cyklon_300
Contributor
I spent the last 3 days as a volunteer participant as part of a working dive crew in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, located 110-miles from Freeport, TX in the Gulf of Mexico.
The FGBNMS contracted the M/V Spree to install new mooring anchors at several locations within the sanctuary that are used by commercial dive operations and NOAA research vessels.
Installing the anchors required dive teams to locate pre-selected sites, mark them with lift bags, ferry hand tools, stabilizing anchors, downweights, and hydraulic drilling equipment to depth. Once the drill rig was properly positioned, the plan was for rotating teams of divers to remove core sections of the coral substrate to a depth of 5 feet. Large stainless steel U-bolts would then be grouted into place with cement.
Half of the crew were experienced in this type of activity and the other half, including me, were top-side and in-water support. Support members experienced long periods of relative inactivity during which dive plans were finalized, drill bits sharpened, lines laid, and special effort expended to precisely position the 100-ft boat. This lull was broken once dive teams were established and the actual work of drilling began.
Being on the first team to operate the drill, I immediately experienced the demands of a working dive. Not only was the equipment bulky, heavy, and unwieldy, but Mother Nature decided to start throwing in complications...the slight current that would have been nominal under most sport diving conditions made every movement with the drill rig doubly difficult. Lines that had been slack now started becoming entangled at an annoying frequency.
As soon as the drill penetrated the coral, a thick cloud of debris encompassed the drilling team, making hand signals mostly useless...pieces of stinging brown sponges were everywhere in the water, and ocean triggerfish were swarming in the murky water and taking nips from the back of our heads.
The exertion at 80 feet made gas consumption a real issue...dive times were very short. We had barely penetrated the surface when our relief team showed up.
What had been mostly calm seas continued to build, and after only a few short hours, 6-foot swells were becoming common. At one point, the boat dragged the anchor and the diver operating the drill got an industrial version of Crack the Whip...this could have resulted in injury and/or major damage to some expensive equipment. This event prompted curtailment of drilling for the day.
Crew were allowed to pleasure dive for the remainder of the day and in late afternoon we dived a portion of Stetson Bank that was absolutely gorgeous. Perfect lighting, 80+ vis, and throngs of sea life made a great dive. Huge blue and queen angelfish, gigantic rock beauties (hey, it's Texas and things are bigger)...barracuda attacking a small turtle, a baby black tip shark, trunkfish, grouper, morays, cowfish, etc etc. The brisk current made this exceptional dive much too short tho...
The following day, weather forecasts were conflicting, but the seas were becoming increasingly lumpy and the skies darkening so the decision was made to abort the drilling mission.
I really enjoyed being part of this experience and am signed up for the second attempt next week.
The FGBNMS contracted the M/V Spree to install new mooring anchors at several locations within the sanctuary that are used by commercial dive operations and NOAA research vessels.
Installing the anchors required dive teams to locate pre-selected sites, mark them with lift bags, ferry hand tools, stabilizing anchors, downweights, and hydraulic drilling equipment to depth. Once the drill rig was properly positioned, the plan was for rotating teams of divers to remove core sections of the coral substrate to a depth of 5 feet. Large stainless steel U-bolts would then be grouted into place with cement.
Half of the crew were experienced in this type of activity and the other half, including me, were top-side and in-water support. Support members experienced long periods of relative inactivity during which dive plans were finalized, drill bits sharpened, lines laid, and special effort expended to precisely position the 100-ft boat. This lull was broken once dive teams were established and the actual work of drilling began.
Being on the first team to operate the drill, I immediately experienced the demands of a working dive. Not only was the equipment bulky, heavy, and unwieldy, but Mother Nature decided to start throwing in complications...the slight current that would have been nominal under most sport diving conditions made every movement with the drill rig doubly difficult. Lines that had been slack now started becoming entangled at an annoying frequency.
As soon as the drill penetrated the coral, a thick cloud of debris encompassed the drilling team, making hand signals mostly useless...pieces of stinging brown sponges were everywhere in the water, and ocean triggerfish were swarming in the murky water and taking nips from the back of our heads.
The exertion at 80 feet made gas consumption a real issue...dive times were very short. We had barely penetrated the surface when our relief team showed up.
What had been mostly calm seas continued to build, and after only a few short hours, 6-foot swells were becoming common. At one point, the boat dragged the anchor and the diver operating the drill got an industrial version of Crack the Whip...this could have resulted in injury and/or major damage to some expensive equipment. This event prompted curtailment of drilling for the day.
Crew were allowed to pleasure dive for the remainder of the day and in late afternoon we dived a portion of Stetson Bank that was absolutely gorgeous. Perfect lighting, 80+ vis, and throngs of sea life made a great dive. Huge blue and queen angelfish, gigantic rock beauties (hey, it's Texas and things are bigger)...barracuda attacking a small turtle, a baby black tip shark, trunkfish, grouper, morays, cowfish, etc etc. The brisk current made this exceptional dive much too short tho...
The following day, weather forecasts were conflicting, but the seas were becoming increasingly lumpy and the skies darkening so the decision was made to abort the drilling mission.
I really enjoyed being part of this experience and am signed up for the second attempt next week.
