planning a trip to flower gardens

[shawnwill36]

looks like we are going to the flower gardens sometime at the end of july. pm me if you are interested and see how many we can schedule.

[BillS]

I've read a little about the "Gardens" and it sounds like a neat trip. What are the details?

[rustyshakelford]

i would like some additional info on it too! are there going to be any other tec divers?

brett

[ianr33]

Originally Posted by rustyshakelford

i would like some additional info on it too! are there going to be any other tec divers?

brett

Just an FYI, The Flower Gardens trips are strictly recreational (with the exception of a few dedicated tech trips) Breaking depth limits/going into deco will lead to sitting out one or more dives.

[rustyshakelford]

Originally Posted by ianr33

Just an FYI, The Flower Gardens trips are strictly recreational (with the exception of a few dedicated tech trips) Breaking depth limits/going into deco will lead to sitting out one or more dives.

im not totally in love with that! how often do they do tec charters?

brett

[swimboyy]

I might be interested...what are the prices? hotel rooms? etc.? sounds like a fun trip.

[ianr33]

Originally Posted by rustyshakelford

im not totally in love with that! how often do they do tec charters?

brett

Very rarely.

I dont care for it either ,and would be much more likely to go out to the Flower Gardens if I could do longer/deeper dives but I totally understand their reasons.
Mixing rec and tec diving on the same boat is never a good idea (What if a recreational diver gets badly bent and a team in the water still has a couple of hours deco to do??) Tech divers have more stuff and take up more room,that means less divers on a trip which makes it even more expensive.

If you are seriously interested in a tech trip look into chartering the entire boat. (Might be interested myself if it parked over Stetson rather than the FG)

Gulf Diving LLC - Welcome!

[rustyshakelford]

i wonder what the cost and interest in something like that would be? open it up to OC and CC. i like the idea of staying in one place.

on the other hand, i can drive to pensacola and dive the oriskany for about the same amount of money

brett

[ianr33]

Originally Posted by rustyshakelford

i wonder what the cost and interest in something like that would be? open it up to OC and CC. i like the idea of staying in one place.

on the other hand, i can drive to pensacola and dive the oriskany for about the same amount of money

brett

Stetson makes more sense for a tech trip IMHO. Personally I prefer the diving there to the FG and it is much easier to get some depth. The edge of Stetson slopes down pretty steeply to 180 or so. At the FG all the sites with buoys and seafloor U bolts max out at around 80 feet. Some of these might be close to drop offs (dont know) if not new anchor bolts would need to be drilled (no dropping anchors in the sanctuary) That would be prohibitively expensive. Stetson also has the advantage of being closer to shore so less $$$ spent on diesel

A floating taxi that parked on Stetson for a couple of days would be a good trip.

I was lucky enough to go on a fun trip a few years ago
Geyer Bank trip report - 8/6 - ScubaBoard

Also there was an earlier trip to the Brine Seep on the Sea Searcher. Depth on that is around 250?? Info on brine seep here Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Secrets of the Gulf Brine Seep Images

Lots of interesting diving to be done in the Gulf,but easier and cheaper to drive to Florida!

[shawnwill36]

flower gardens is a live aboard. price should be around 550. includes bunk, food, 7 dives on saturday and two on sunday. be gone 2 nights