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We had a full boat of divers head out
with us for a weekend Flower Garden trip.
The seas were flat and the winds calm when
we set out from Freeport to the West Bank.
We arrived in the dark and set up with all
eyes straining to see a whaleshark. A few
hopefuls were rewarded with fins off in the
distance, but I think the fins were actually
chubs feeding on the surface. The first two
dives on the West bank held all of the usual
critters, including black grouper,
amberjack, a green moray, and the small
stuff. Barracuda were in abundance. Seas
were less than 1 foot, winds about 5 knots,
Water temp 84, skies partly cloudy, and
current fairly stiff to the north.
After the West Bank we headed for 389.
Conditions were barely right for a rig dive,
with little wind and no current. Two turtles
and an octopus were sighted on the platform,
along with many bits kicked up by divers
with poor spatial understanding of the
platform. Normal reef fish, as well as the
usual pelagics were spotted, but no sharks
were present at the platform. Water temp was
84, visibility was down to 80 feet. After
389 we went to the East Bank, where a cloud
of green funk was present in the top 40 feet
of the water. The sun was out , but could
not penetrate the gloom very well. The folks
from the sanctuary had hedged their bets and
taken the Fling out to see if the coral was
spawning, but none was sighted. We did see a
nurse shark, lots of moray eels, ocean
triggerfish, unicorn filefish, and the
usual. Sunday morning we got to Stetson
Bank to find the frogfish. Also sighted were
the sandbar sharks, rays, juvenile
trunkfish, juvenile drums, and divers
violating their deco stops on their
computers. You buy them books and you buy
them books…… Captain Frank
M/V Spree
Freeport, Texas |
