Flower Gardens Trip
June 29th - July 1st, 2007

by Jack Frost

Friday, 29th June - Friday evening’s drive to Freeport from Austin was a relatively mild affair, given the past week’s rain-outs. Everyone who had signed up for the trip had eagerly arrived well a-head of time, and were waiting patiently (or at least gave that impression); they signed any outstanding paperwork and buddied up quickly and as 8:15 pm rolled by there was the mad dash to find a bunk and get gear sorted out. The boat was about 2/3rds full, so handing over waivers and checking out dive cards went by efficiently, and finding room for equipment, etc. wasn’t too tricky. Before long the Fling was on its way to the Flower Gardens - about 130 miles from shore. After the informative (and fun) boat briefing of rules, expectations, etc., most folk headed to bed and attempted to get some rest. In the morning, after the 6 am wake-up call, it was apparent not all had managed that feat! The surface hadn’t been too choppy at all, however, I’d highly recommend some ear plugs to lessen the drone of the engines if you’re a light sleeper.

Saturday, 30th June - Pre-breakfast was served, fruit, muffins, and such and then, 7am, the gate opened for the first dive of the day, at the West Bank, buoy # 2. There was only a slight surge, so definitely no need to find your waterproof boxing gloves to fight the ascent/descent. The water temperature was an inviting 84 degrees, so you could easily get away with a 3 mm suit; visibility was at least 65 ft, so even heading down the line, you could see activity all over the place. There were plenty of parrotfish, the usual clan of watchful barracudas, and many spawning trigger fish. A few nursing sharks deigned the area with their presence, as well as some spotted eels hidden stealthily among the vast array of corals. One thing of note was the deceptive current at the ocean’s floor, so we had to bear that in mind while literally getting carried away checking out the marine life, a good way to combat this was diving a petal pattern, keeping close to the U-bolt. On surfacing, a hearty breakfast of French toast, and other filling delicacies were available (I didn’t pay too much attention being a vegan, but I heard it was very tasty). I may add, the galley crew, Alan and Carol, made a real effort to accommodate those with different diets, and there was always plenty to graze on, so don’t feel you’ll go hungry on this trip! This particular location was the area for 2 dives, so many divers headed south for the first dive, and the opposite direction for the second. After a hefty lunch we upped bags and pootled off to one of the oil rigs, 8I 389. The captain had informed us the ability to dive there would depend on favourable weather, currents, and whether the platform was able to accommodate us. On arrival, everyone was pleased to find out we were a-go. Due to the strength of the current, we had been advised on the need to stay within the supports of the rig, as well as some other rig-specific considerations. As it’s located within the sanctuary, the supports are left to nature’s devices, the result being hundreds of barnacles, which in turn attracted a lot of life. There were all sorts of tiny fish, large fish, and a large mass of jacks hanging around for the entertainment, as diving within the supports was a crash course in avoiding drifting into other divers; it was also important to keep a close eye on depth, as it was very easy to keep descending as you were paying too much attention to the marine life. One couple was lucky enough to see the resident turtle, who apparently has a home at about 120 ft., he’d come out for a looksie though, with all the commotion, I’m sure. Once all were safely aboard, we headed off to the East Bank, buoy # 2. This location turned out to be a very active site, a lot of marine life going about their business, including shrimp, and the other usual suspects. Some even sighted a 15 ft shark cruising around, and of course, the obligatory army of barracuda watching you do your safety stop under the boat. This site would also be the location for the night dive, too. This is when lobster were more visible, as well as more shrimp, crab, jellyfish, a kaleidoscope of colours of sea urchins, and opportunist jacks who would follow divers around and wait until they turned their flashlight on blinded prey, and whoosh, from the dark they’d grab an unsuspecting fish, quite a sight. Following the night dive, Alan and Carol treated everyone to their scrumptiously warm and tasty homemade brownies with vanilla ice cream and strawberries, quite the heart warmer, following which all hit the sack, as the boat trundled its way to the Stetson Bank overnight.

Sunday, 1st July - The 6 am call came around this morning, with a much more favourable response due to a deeper sleep; the muffins, fruit, etc. were quietly waiting for us in the galley again. 7am rolled around the gate was open to go and explore the Bank, for what was to turn out to be the day's only dive. Stetson Bank can be a little tricky to keep an eye on your location in reference to the buoy line due to the sea floor topography, even with 70 feet visibility, thankfully no one drifted off though. For those who wanted to, the maximum depth for the dive was 130 feet, and a few chose to hang there briefly for the heck of it (going through at least one thermocline a drop of 14 degrees), only to then ascend to around 85 feet to check out the fish. There were a number of sting rays around, some taking a quick snooze, it seemed, and also different varieties of eel, hanging out around the sea urchins. Here a Silky shark was checking the locale out, and like all the sites this trip, there were plenty of fish of all shapes and sizes acting busy and going about their business for the divers to observe. And I don’t know what’s at Stetson Bank, however, the angel fish and scorpion fish were massive! Another great dive all-in-all. By the time we surfaced the waves were a little more choppy, so climbing aboard the boat was a little challenging, but doable. This is when we found out that would be the last dive of the weekend as someone got the bends, and the Fling’s policy is to head straight back in if that occurs. With little complaint everyone cleaned and packed up their gear, and hung out, napped, and ate while we headed back to Freeport, about 70 miles away. On docking a few hours later, farewells were exchanged, with the promise of returning again soon.