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This report is actually a testimonial based on my personal impressions and opinions from a trip that I took last year (1995); I am doing this as a possible help to anyone considering a trip to the Texas Flower Gardens. I do not have any kind of vested interest by doing this report nor am I affiliated with the operators, Rinn Boats, Inc. I am, as the saying goes, "just another satisfied customer". In fact, I will be going out there again August 10-11 aboard the Fling. If you are also going on the same trip, please feel free to email me.
I did take some photos from my trip (mostly top-side) and as soon I can get them scanned, I will include them here. On any event, I hope you enjoy reading and this is a good help. You may printout this report, copy it to your machine, add it as a bookmark, or add it as a link to your website. If there are any questions, again, please email me.
It takes about 1-1/2 hours to get to Freeport from downtown Houston. Click here for a map with directions. I want to caution everyone to watch their speed on Hwy 288 as it is well-patroled by the Texas Department of Public Safety and the various local sheriff and police departments along the way.
On my trip, I was on the Fling, but procedures are the same on the Spree as well. When we boarded at about 9:00 pm, we went below deck to claim our bunks. We noted the bunk number as that is our ID number for the trip. After reporting the our bunk number, we proceeded to put our dive gear together. About 10:30, we were gathered in the dining salon for our briefing. At about 11:00, we pulled away from the dock and headed for the gulf
We slept while the boat headed for the Flower Gardens. The staterooms are somewhat small, but being 6'2" tall, 210 pounds, any room on a boat will seem small to me. The room I slept in was about 6-1/2 feet high, by 8 feet wide, by 6-1/2 feet long. There were four bunks in it, I slept on a top bunk. Because of the space limitation, it is advised to pack light as you will pretty much have to stash your bag in some corner of your bunk. Also, you may have a little trouble sleeping the first night due to the boat pitching in the sea and drone of the engines, but you get used to it. In fact, after that first night, I slept very well during my naps and on the second night.
Our meals were fine and we always had plenty of eat. The Fling had a married couple on our trip who were serving as our galley crew. They always had a continental breakfast, a full breakfast, lunch, and dinner ready for us. They provided water, tea, Tang, Gatorade and snack food. Beer and soft drinks are also available for sale; You just keep a tab which is paid at the end of the trip.
I mentioned about packing light. For a summer trip, you will not need much more t-shirts, shorts, and swimsuit; I would also bring a sweatshirt and a light jacket for those times that it can get cool. As for toiletries, you will not need much more than a toothbrush and toothpaste. There are three heads (bathrooms) and two showers on the boat and you can soap and shampoo if you want, but the most anyone did on my trip was rinse themselves off at the aft (rear) deck shower after each dive.
On my two-day trip, we went from weather extreme to another. When we arrived at the Flower Gardens, the sky was overcast and dark. The sea was so rough that standing up on the boat was a very difficult task. However, by that afternoon, the sea had calmed considerably and the next morning, the water was so smooth that I could have skipped a rock back to Freeport.
The crew has every safety precaution you can think of in place. Both boats have an inflatable that they can send out to pick you up should you drift a little too far away. They also set up a safety line running from one of the stern (rear) ladders along the beam (side) to mooring line tied at the bow (front). They also have another line running from the other stern ladder that you can pull yourself to the ladder with. After you jump into the water, you will swim over the safety line and pull yourself down the line as it is attached to the mooring line at about 50 feet deep. Coming back up, you just follow the line to the stern ladders. For the night dive, there is a strobe attached at the base of the mooring line to help you find it. If you lose sight of it, you should not been that far away anyhow.
There are two policies that are strongly enforced by the crew as far as the diving goes. One is that there is a 100 feet max depth on ALL dives. Do NOT go below this. The first time you do so, you will sit out the next dive, the second time, you will sit out the trip. There is zero tolerance for the reckless, macho diver. The other is that there is a mandatory 2-1/2 hour surface interval between dives. As I said, these policies are very strongly enforced and they are non-negotiable.
While you will do dive on your own, you are watched very carefully by the divemasters both above and below the surface. You must check out when you enter the water and must check back in when you come out. The people on the boat are always on the lookout. Once, my dive buddy and I came up a mooring line and found ourselves between the Fling and the Spree about 30 yards from either boat. We were very quickly spotted and signaled by the divemasters on the Fling. About that time, a crew member from the Spree arrived in their inflatable to check on us. Upon indicating that we were fine, our divemasters gave us their instructions. In our case, the water was very calm at the time so we just flipped on our backs and surface-swam back to the Fling.
While this trip may be for the more experienced diver, after seeing all of the safety precautions that are in place, I can say that a newly-certified or 'inexperienced' diver can also make these dives. The key here is your own confidence, keeping a good presence of mind, and having a good dive plan. There are two factors to consider here:
I know I might be repeating what is in the policies that you will get from Rinn Boats, your dive shop, or read on the Rinn Boats web site but I think these points are worth noting:
I had heard about the Texas Flower Gardens for years, but when I saw it for myself, I was awed. My first impression is that it is one large coral field. You do not spot too many patches of white sand there and they are very small patches at that. I do have to plead ignorance on what the names are of the different kinds of coral you see here, but if you have seen them in Cozumel, you will see them here. The same goes for the fish life. On my trip, we had groups of Barracuda that were cruising around checking us out. A few people reported seeing a Manta Ray up closer to the surface. The visability there was around 70 feet, the water temp around 80 degrees, and the depths in the 60-80 feet range.
Stetson Bank, to me, is different than the Flower Gardens. Whereas, the Texas Flower Gardens was a garden (hence it's name), Stetson Bank struck me as an underwater desert. That does not mean that it was not beautiful down there. Like the cactus and other plants in the desert, there were many forms of reef and marine life here. We even had a 7-foot Hammerhead Shark swim over us and went on it's way. The vis, water temp, and depths are the same as the Flower Gardens.
On our way back to Freeport, we stopped at one of the offshore oil rigs and dive one dive there. The depth and vis can vary from rig to rig depending on how close to shore it is, but this one was fairly close to Stetson so the depth was to 150 feet, vis was about 70 feet. Diving on a platform, I felt like I was diving in an aquarium. With the rig's 'legs' around you, it was like a box. You do have to watch your depth because you can be too deep before you know it especially if you want to stand on one of the rig's support beams. I liked this so much that I hope to take some rig-diving trips later on. After this dive, we headed on in to Freeport and arrived back at the dock at 7:00 pm.
In all, I did 7 dives over the two days. That is quite a bit of diving. Usually, one can do 8 dives over a two-day trip, but the currents were really bad at the East Bank of the Flower Gardens so we canceled that part of the trip and went on to Stetson. Nonetheless, it was a very enjoyable trip. I can not emphasize enough that you will be taken care of no matter what experience level you are at. I did mention that being an experienced diver does help, but it is not mandantory. I know that they have taken newly-certified divers out there before and seeing all the safety precautions that are in place, I know that those divers are taken care of too. Bottom-line, I do recommend that you take one of these trips. I hope that you enjoy. Again, please feel free to email me should there are any questions.
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