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This is a 2-day liveaboard leaving from Freeport Texas (56 miles from Houston) on Friday night and returning back to dock on Sunday night. Flower garden banks national marine sanctuary is 100 nautical miles offshore of Galveston and it takes ~6 house for the charter to get there. Regarding the diving schedule, we are expected to have 7 dives: On Saturday: 2 dives at West Flower Garden Bank, 1 Oil rig dive after lunch, 1 late afternoon and 1 night dive at East Flower Garden Bank. On Sunday: two morning dives at Stetson bank before heading back.
Day 0:
Boarded the boat at 7:00 PM. It's a 3.5 hour ride from Austin. I plan to use onboard AL80 but brought AL40 as a safety bottle (end up not using it as condition was good). The boat is not luxurious but it looks clean and nice.First night was a bit sporty, but sycophant patch worked like magic. There were a few passengers had a rough night so motion-sickness drugs are very necessary.
Day 1:
First dive at 8AM at West Bank, condition was perfect. The eye opening thing for me was it's a 'Giant ' ~7ft 'Stride' from side of the boat but once you get used to it it's pretty fun. There's a side line to follow to reach the mooring line and descend. It's a deep dive (~92 ft) but the coral coverage was amazing. From what I had seen it's better coral system than Cozumel. a lot of barracudas and small fish.
When me and my buddies returned to the boat there was one guy on oxygen. I don't know the details but he looks to be 'bent'. The crew put him on O2 the whole time and contacted coast guard immediately. There were some concern that the boat may have to return to dock immediately to transfer the patient but since we were so far away from shore the coat guard flew a chopper to meet us at mid-point and transferred the patient back to shore. The patient seems stable at the time and I hope he is OK. It is definitely a 'First' for me. Since most flower garden dives are 'deep' (over 70 ft) and no good place to have a check out dive, I think it's important to have proper weighting, solid skills and familiar buddies ahead of the trip. We were lucky that we missed only one dive, things could have been a lot worse.
The new second dive after lunch was at an oil rig and it was awesome. It's my first time diving an oil rig and viz/condition were perfect. Corals covered the whole structure and there were a lot of fish around. The giant man-made structure was just mind-blowing. Some fellow divers reported they saw a hammerhead, unfortunately we didn't have the luck.
We headed to east bank after lunch and had the late afternoon and night dives there. Again, good corals, good condition with a lot of fish. the night dive was fun too. The crew set up a lot of strobes at the site so navigation was easy. Eels, lion fish, crab, a lot of fun stuff to see.
Day 2:
Two dives at stetson bank before we headed back to Free port. Stetson is really unique and the experience was like landing on the moon. We saw two sandbar sharks and a ton of fish (eel, parrot fish, dog snapper etc.) I really couldn't decide whether oil rig or stetson was my favorite on this trip. There's mild to moderate current on this day but everything was manageable. We headed back to Freeport after the second dive and left the boat ~6PM.
Overall it's an amazing trip. Water temperature was in average 84-86 degrees (stetson was a bit colder but still over 80) It's definitely not the luxurious type live-aboard or the most chill diving. However, I think it's an unknown gem in Gulf of Mexico and in my opinion better diving than many Caribbean destinations. It maybe hard for out of state travelers as in spring/fall the condition became unpredictable in the gulf and trips can be cancelled at last minute. But from what I heard July/August usually have consistent good weather. Oh, we are well-fed on the boat, the food never stopped coming.
The charter is limited to single back mount for now and they provide air or Nitrox, it's very useful to be nitro certified because of the profile of diving here. I would also recommend bringing your dive buddy if you can.
MV-Fling has starlink now. As a phone addict (unfortunately) I of course signed up. The speed was decent and I was able to show things live on the boat with my wife and friends. You do need to pay extra for it but it seems similar daily pricing as what I paid on my Nautilus live-aboard trip.
Hope you enjoy the trip report.
Day 0:
Boarded the boat at 7:00 PM. It's a 3.5 hour ride from Austin. I plan to use onboard AL80 but brought AL40 as a safety bottle (end up not using it as condition was good). The boat is not luxurious but it looks clean and nice.First night was a bit sporty, but sycophant patch worked like magic. There were a few passengers had a rough night so motion-sickness drugs are very necessary.
Day 1:
First dive at 8AM at West Bank, condition was perfect. The eye opening thing for me was it's a 'Giant ' ~7ft 'Stride' from side of the boat but once you get used to it it's pretty fun. There's a side line to follow to reach the mooring line and descend. It's a deep dive (~92 ft) but the coral coverage was amazing. From what I had seen it's better coral system than Cozumel. a lot of barracudas and small fish.
When me and my buddies returned to the boat there was one guy on oxygen. I don't know the details but he looks to be 'bent'. The crew put him on O2 the whole time and contacted coast guard immediately. There were some concern that the boat may have to return to dock immediately to transfer the patient but since we were so far away from shore the coat guard flew a chopper to meet us at mid-point and transferred the patient back to shore. The patient seems stable at the time and I hope he is OK. It is definitely a 'First' for me. Since most flower garden dives are 'deep' (over 70 ft) and no good place to have a check out dive, I think it's important to have proper weighting, solid skills and familiar buddies ahead of the trip. We were lucky that we missed only one dive, things could have been a lot worse.
The new second dive after lunch was at an oil rig and it was awesome. It's my first time diving an oil rig and viz/condition were perfect. Corals covered the whole structure and there were a lot of fish around. The giant man-made structure was just mind-blowing. Some fellow divers reported they saw a hammerhead, unfortunately we didn't have the luck.
We headed to east bank after lunch and had the late afternoon and night dives there. Again, good corals, good condition with a lot of fish. the night dive was fun too. The crew set up a lot of strobes at the site so navigation was easy. Eels, lion fish, crab, a lot of fun stuff to see.
Day 2:
Two dives at stetson bank before we headed back to Free port. Stetson is really unique and the experience was like landing on the moon. We saw two sandbar sharks and a ton of fish (eel, parrot fish, dog snapper etc.) I really couldn't decide whether oil rig or stetson was my favorite on this trip. There's mild to moderate current on this day but everything was manageable. We headed back to Freeport after the second dive and left the boat ~6PM.
Overall it's an amazing trip. Water temperature was in average 84-86 degrees (stetson was a bit colder but still over 80) It's definitely not the luxurious type live-aboard or the most chill diving. However, I think it's an unknown gem in Gulf of Mexico and in my opinion better diving than many Caribbean destinations. It maybe hard for out of state travelers as in spring/fall the condition became unpredictable in the gulf and trips can be cancelled at last minute. But from what I heard July/August usually have consistent good weather. Oh, we are well-fed on the boat, the food never stopped coming.
The charter is limited to single back mount for now and they provide air or Nitrox, it's very useful to be nitro certified because of the profile of diving here. I would also recommend bringing your dive buddy if you can.
MV-Fling has starlink now. As a phone addict (unfortunately) I of course signed up. The speed was decent and I was able to show things live on the boat with my wife and friends. You do need to pay extra for it but it seems similar daily pricing as what I paid on my Nautilus live-aboard trip.
Hope you enjoy the trip report.
(sorry if Bonnie was intentional)
