Flower Garden Banks/Fling with Junior Diver

[NoahZark75]

I'm considering taking my son who is 12 (currently OW, soon to be Junior Advanced Open Water) along with me (OW, soon to be AOW) on the Fling weekend trip to Flower Garden Banks, etc. The Junior AOW depth limit is 70ft.

For those of you who have been, is it worth it if you can only go to 70ft?
At this depth limit and for this trip, how important is Nitrox?

 

[txdamselfish]

My hubs and I went for our first time with Andy from Gigglin Marlin for our Deep Dive Certs and made 4 dives between 90-105. All the others were under 70, its some good diving even at 70 around the west & east banks. All on nitrox and would highly recommend if possible for a AOW Jr. @ReefHound or @Sushi Boy may have better insight for a junior AOW.

 

[ReefHound]

I'm considering taking my son who is 12 (currently OW, soon to be Junior Advanced Open Water) along with me (OW, soon to be AOW) on the Fling weekend trip to Flower Garden Banks, etc. The Junior AOW depth limit is 70ft.

For those of you who have been, is it worth it if you can only go to 70ft?
At this depth limit and for this trip, how important is Nitrox?

There are no scuba police out there. That said, most of the sites are diveable at 70'. The u-bolts at Stetson are right at 70' and the ridges come up to 50-60'. At West and East Bank u-bolts are between 60-70'. On the afternoon and night dives at EB divers typically report max depth at around 70' in the sand patch. The rigs have crossbars at 30-35' where you can do the entire dive. If you put me on a hard limit of 70' I could still have a great time out there.

The dives there are the ideal profiles for nitrox. Nitrox can do one of two things, extend your dive time OR decrease your nitrogen absorption. At 70', chances are you will run out of air well before you run out of NDL so it will decrease your nitrogen absorption. The Fling feels that nitrox is so important that it is now included in the charter price. You're paying for it and you won't get a rebate if you dive air so why not get the nitrox card and take advantage of it?

 

[Wookie]

When I ran the Spree in the Flower Gardens, we had Junior Divers all the time.

With that said, as Reefhound says, Texas is no place to expect anyone to tell you that you can't do something.

 

[NoahZark75]

one more question? average water temp there at depth in July?

 

[ReefHound]

one more question? average water temp there at depth in July?

Low 80's for the most part. You can get several degrees cooler at 100' on the walls.

 

[ValkyrieDesigns]

How is the current/how hard would you rate this? I'm visiting a friend in the area this summer and we've talked about going. He has some physical limitations so really hard swimming/fighting a current the whole time means a dive is a no go.

 

[Wookie]

How is the current/how hard would you rate this? I'm visiting a friend in the area this summer and we've talked about going. He has some physical limitations so really hard swimming/fighting a current the whole time means a dive is a no go.

It can be that way, and often isn’t.

It just depends on the gyres moving around the Gulf.

 

[ReefHound]

How is the current/how hard would you rate this? I'm visiting a friend in the area this summer and we've talked about going. He has some physical limitations so really hard swimming/fighting a current the whole time means a dive is a no go.

Current can be non-existent to ripping. But for the most part, you don't have to swim against it. There are all kinds of lines laid out. The side line goes from back of boat to the down line. When you jump in you're told to swim to the sideline and wait for your buddy. Then you pull yourself down to the down line which goes to the U-bolt at the bottom. Typically, current is milder at the bottom and there is usually coral heads to duck in behind if it's not so mild. When you follow the lines back to the boat, there are 20-30' lines from the ladders which you'll hold on to to take off your fins then pull yourself to the ladder.

Stay on the lines! So many people go to the sideline then let go to fiddle with a mask or something. If current is strong, they can look up in ten seconds and be 20' away and it's all over. Not to worry. There is a long 100'-200' trail line going out behind the boat. The stronger the current, the longer the trail line will be.

The place it is toughest is on the rigs but even then you can position behind a pipe and get out of it.

 

[ValkyrieDesigns]

Current can be non-existent to ripping. But for the most part, you don't have to swim against it. There are all kinds of lines laid out. The side line goes from back of boat to the down line. When you jump in you're told to swim to the sideline and wait for your buddy. Then you pull yourself down to the down line which goes to the U-bolt at the bottom. Typically, current is milder at the bottom and there is usually coral heads to duck in behind if it's not so mild. When you follow the lines back to the boat, there are 20-30' lines from the ladders which you'll hold on to to take off your fins then pull yourself to the ladder.

Stay on the lines! So many people go to the sideline then let go to fiddle with a mask or something. If current is strong, they can look up in ten seconds and be 20' away and it's all over. Not to worry. There is a long 100'-200' trail line going out behind the boat. The stronger the current, the longer the trail line will be.

The place it is toughest is on the rigs but even then you can position behind a pipe and get out of it.

Good to know! Thank you so much