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Divers from all over Texas and Louisiana
converged on the Spree for a 2 day Flower
Gardens trip. Following a rough ride out, we
started our dives on the West bank. The
diving was rough but tolerable (seas 3-5 in
south swells), but not an overwhelming
selection of sea life to see. Divers
reported some black, gag, and yellowmouth
grouper, as well as nesting sargeant majors,
ocean triggerfish, and a stingray or two.
Water temp was 86, current was moderate, and
air temp 95 degrees. Following the West
bank, the divers were given the choice to
dive Stetson or East bank. Predictably,
Stetson was the overwhelming choice. We
moved off to dive HI-572, but were kicked
off by the crewboat wanting to pump water to
the platform. We moved over to HI-571B,
which is a do not repeat dive. The newer
folks loved the dive, the experienced ones
remarked that it had been cleaned in the
past few years, and there was no growth to
speak of. Fish life was reasonable, but not
spectacular. Current was mild, water temp
86, seas 2-4 feet.
We then went to Stetson, where we tied up
to buoy 3. I saw a big loggerhead turtle,
silky sharks, and a sandbar shark. There
were lots of grey snapper, and french
angelfish out the wazoo. (Most folks don’t
keep angelfish in their wazoo, that’s why
they were out.) Princess Fiona lost her
mask, but I was able to recover it so that
she could make the night dive. On Sunday
morning, we moved to buoy 1, and made the
last 2 dives. We saw some free-swimming
octopus, a couple of wahoo, lots and lots of
barracuda, some amberjack, and the biggest
blue angelfish I have ever seen. Seas were
2-3 feet, winds 10 knots with squalls, water
temp 86, and no current at all.
It was another great trip
Capt Frank (the tank)
M/V Spree
Freeport, Texas |
