Short Notice Offshore Rig Diving Trip Tomorrow May 2nd out of Freeport TX

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

gbeardjr

Registered
Messages
32
Reaction score
16
Location
Seabrook, Texas, United States
# of dives
50 - 99
Early Season Special!!
Free tank rentals on this weekend's trip.

Join us offshore for a 3 tank diving trip this Sunday May 3rd.
We will leave from the Bridge Bait Dock in Freeport. Arrive at 7:30 am, push off at 8:00 then be at first dive site 35-40 miles offshore by 9:30 AM. Make 2 dives there then the final 3rd dive at another rig closer in. ETA back at dock around 5:00 PM
Call or message me to reserve a spot. 832-603-1698
$250.00/diver.
3 tanks provided.

http://www.captainbeardcharters.com/
Water and soft drinks will be provided drinks provided but bring your own lunch and snacks. An ice chest is already on the boat to use for all personal food or drink items you need to keep cold as well.
 
Still, for what Texas has too show it is kind of expensive. Some so-so visibility around some metal structure. Plus, is it not somewhere to be a normal price? $250?

I, myself, never went diving an oil rig. From what people tell me, it is pretty unexciting. Add $250 + tips and you got yourself a ticket to Miami and back. Somehow I always wanted to go and experience an oil rig just once, just at least to say I was there. However, each time I think about it, research, look at the websites and boats and go, nah. Some memory of so-so or, comparably, a new steel tank?

Bought a ticket to Fort Lauderdale for $150 (spirit) round-trip instead for the memorial weekend. Yes, I'll have to spend extra $$$ but at least that is memorable (even if to go cheap and do only shore dives).
 
So you've never been diving on a Gulf rig, but you feel qualified to say that it's expensive for what it offers? What's your total out-of-pocket expense for your FL trip? Your Spirit Airlines low cost ticket only gets you tarmac to tarmac. You still have to pay the operator, hotel, food, transport, etc for what, from my personal experience, is fairly marginal diving on beat-up reefs. How does that compare with gas to Freeport and going to sleep in your own bed that night?

Why not put your money where your keyboard is and actually experience Gulf rig diving before dogging on it? The Texas Gulf Coast has some world-class diving, the kind of diving people travel a long way to experience. And it's sitting quietly in our backyard. Rigs tend to have an impressive amount of life on them. I've had some really cool shark and turtle encounters between the legs of an oil rig. There's also an abundance of small critters for the macro folks. Sometimes the really big pelagic stuff swings by to glance around. Is it predictable? No, it's the friggin' Gulf of Mexico.

Alternatively you could eliminate all of the risk & take a Southwest flight to Atlanta at every opportunity to hop in the Georgia Aquarium where you'll be guaranteed a whale shark encounter. Heck there's probably even a Starbucks in the lobby...
 
My out of pocket cost? Well, the airline ticket and a car rental, about $25 a day for a car. If I dive a shore, $7 a tank, if from boat, about $70 for 2 dives. That is it. Food I have to buy in Houston as well. That is my out of pocket.

Well, I don't have to experience something personally to have an opinion on something. It is not based on faith but a direct parroting what other people have said from their unique and personal experience about diving a rig. Everyone I asked, they said it was so-so. One person on my memory has called it "pitiful" but I am sure he was not qualified to say so.

Example, if there is a car on the market, you ask its owners how it drives, how often it breaks. So, you get a "meh" result. But the dealer tells you, no, you got to experience that for yourself, put your money in now... sign here. I understand you would, but I prefer to learn from mistakes that are not my own. Everyone has their vice. Though, I cannot reconcile the fact that you are not fond of South Florida diving, yet rig diving and fondness for Starbucks is your thing. Seems fishy.

PS: What is with the fascination of sleeping in your own bed that particular night. So, it will be a night like any other you wouldn't be able recall in a few days. Are we really trying to make that night as obscure to memory as possible? Is that the goal?
 
Last edited:
I have had some amazing rig dives, and some that were completely forgettable. You just never know. The ocean is not a zoo.

My opinion: if you don't want to go, cool, don't. Do you need to make a post saying why you don't think it's worth it and it might not be fun with no experience to back that opinion, though? Nope. Just click on to the next post... my .02.
 
Well said James.

Texasguy,[FONT=&amp] my friend, I see that your reading comprehension is as strong as your grasp of sarcasm…[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]When I buy a car, I would much rather go test drive the models that could be of interest to me rather than rely on Bob at the watercooler’s opinion.[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]That was my suggestion to you. Go take a test drive. What’s your total out of pocket expense? (Hint… It’s less than your long weekend in Florida.) (Hint #2 – not all expenses are financial.) What do you stand to gain from the experience?[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]And if I’m NOT buying a certain car, I don’t feel the need to thump my chest and disparage them, ESPECIALLY if my knowledge of that vehicle is based on nothing more than parroting the second-hand experience of others.[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]Do have a good trip to Florida though. I hope those who take a day trip to the Gulf enjoy theirs as well.[/FONT]
 
I've done rig dives and I enjoyed it. Every diver should try them at least once. They
are one of the few things you can do on a weekend trip without going to the
trouble of flying. Prepare properly (seasick meds and full coverage wet suit to avoid
stinging things) and only go if the weather is calm for the best experience.
 
That photo of the whale shark alone would be worth 3 trips. any luck on getting a hi-res copy?:goingdown:
 
Stay tuned. I plan to start putting out monthly desktop calendar images, and that will likely be one of them.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom