Flower Garden Banks - worth it as a destination?

[Knockneed Man]

I’ve been tempted by the Flower Garden Banks for many years. That said I live in colorado and I haven’t been able to decide if it’s worth it as a destination to fly down and take a short live aboard / overnight just to dive there, when there’s obviously plenty of great other spots requiring about the same which I haven’t gone to. What’s everyone’s experiences there and opinions on it being worth it as a destination trip unto itself?

 

[Dan]

I live 15-min away from where the Fling liveaboard boat docked. So it’s worth for a weekend trip for me. It’s a bluewater diving, as shown in my trip video, below.

One problem you would encounter though, half of the time I have booked for the trip since 2005, the trip would be cancelled due to rough weather, which you would not know the trip is a go or no go until Friday noon, the day before you go onboard that same evening. So, you need to have a plan B, like seeing a concert or a basketball or football game, if the trip is cancelled. Basically, only those people from few hour drive from Freeport would go for that risk of cancellation, like those divers from Dallas or New Orleans.

To minimize the risk of cancellation, you may try booking around August, when good weather would mostly happen.

Otherwise, Cozumel would be better option for you since you live in Colorado.

 

[Rilelen]

I have some friends in West Virginia, who have gone a few times. I was curious how they handled the weather calls, and asked. What they would do is book a refundable same-day flight into Houston. Then, right before they went through security, they'd call and ask if the trip was still a go - if not, they simply wouldn't check in/board the flight.

 

[Knockneed Man]

Thank you for the replies. As much as I still want to go sometime, sounds like it’s probably best saved for a time when I have more than one excuse to get down there

 

[mcohen1021]

The flower gardens offer some pretty bad-ass diving if you can get around the rough seas and the communal living

 

[Dan]

Thank you for the replies. As much as I still want to go sometime, sounds like it’s probably best saved for a time when I have more than one excuse to get down there

Thanks for posting the question, which made me check the website since my last trip there was in 2019, before Covid. MV Fling seems like under new management, https://www.texascaribbean.com/

They now offers more trips (8) option than the weekend trip to Flower Garden Banks. I’m interested in their Oil Platform Adventure. The last time I dove the Oil Platform, I saw lots of Silky Sharks & schooling of 4-5 Hammerheads. I heard you’ll see more of the Hammerheads early in the year.

 

[mcohen1021]

^^New ownership completely

 

[Hoyden]

I love diving the Flower Gardens. It is a pain to deal with the cancelations, but the diving is totally worth it. I travel there from Maryland so you just do the best you can with deciding to go or not by watching the weather and the boat website. The Fling is not a luxury liveaboard, but it is fine for a couple of days. I would say that this is not typical WWPF diving as the conditions can be sporty even on a good trip. I have described some of my dives out there as 50 minutes of awesome and 10 minutes of abject terror (their boat ladders have tried to kill me more than once). But the fish and coarl are so worth it. There really are coral heads the size of VW buses out there. I have seen mantas on almost every trip, sharks on most trips, and an occasional whale shark, but the fish are the highlight for me.

YMMV,

Jackie

 

[Rafael Moreira]

Can I ask what video light are you usin?

I live 15-min away from where the Fling liveaboard boat docked. So it’s worth for a weekend trip for me. It’s a bluewater diving, as shown in my trip video, below.

One problem you would encounter though, half of the time I have booked for the trip since 2005, the trip would be cancelled due to rough weather, which you would not know the trip is a go or no go until Friday noon, the day before you go onboard that same evening. So, you need to have a plan B, like seeing a concert or a basketball or football game, if the trip is cancelled. Basically, only those people from few hour drive from Freeport would go for that risk of cancellation, like those divers from Dallas or New Orleans.

To minimize the risk of cancellation, you may try booking around August, when good weather would mostly happen.

Otherwise, Cozumel would be better option for you since you live in Colorado.

 

[mcohen1021]

an occasional whale shark

Can't confirm it, but they say the whale sharks at the flower gardens migrate there every August from the Yucatan.