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It was a great group of divers (mostly
repeats) and a great weather forecast that
we set out from Freeport with on Friday
evening. Everyone was stoked for a 3 day
weekend of diving the Flower Gardens. We had
3 members of the Aqua Aces (New Orleans
Spear fishing Club) with us, as we do on
many Labor Day trips, so we got to hear all
about the game fish on the banks.
We got to the West bank to find that we
were all alone (except the Fling) but that
didn’t last for long. The water temp has
cooled off somewhat (85 degrees surface, 83
on the bottom) making for more comfortable
diving, as far as I am concerned, and the
seas were flat calm. We were treated to
sightings of a turtle, stingrays, and a
goliath grouper. After the first dive, the
neighbors started to show up. We figured
that a holiday weekend would bring them out,
and we were not mistaken. We set another
buoy on the west bank, at WFG#4, and left
for HI-389.
We tied off to 389 and promptly fell off
into the platform. We backed off, tried
again, and fell off into the platform again.
The Fling was successfully tied off to
HI-376, and we tried mightily to tie off to
389, but it was to no avail, the current was
opposing what little wind we had.
When we arrived at the East bank for
dives 3, 4, and 5, we found some of our new
neighbors there. After we got tied up, more
and more neighbors came. By nightfall, all
of the buoys were taken except the evil
death buoy, and EFG#1. We were diving on #7,
and the fish life was not spectacular. We
spotted the usual reef fish, but no great
pre-spawn creatures that we are used to.
Turns out we were on the wrong buoy. The
next morning, we moved to buoy #1, and were
immediately covered up with fish. Grouper of
all types, green morays, a mobula ray,
turtle, and all of the East bank denizens
were there to greet us in the morning.
Because we had missed the rig dive the day
before, I really wanted to show the folks a
good one on Sunday. We moved off to
HI-572C, which I have been trying to dive
for weeks, ever since we saw black coral and
marbled grouper there with TPWD last month.
We finally got on it, and conditions were
perfect. Winds were calm, current about ½ a
knot, and here comes the crewboat. The
Crewboats Inc. boat Ms. Callie P had a rope
in the wheel, and asked our assistance to
remove it. This boat was finished last week,
and what a beautiful boat she is. No dents,
bumps, bruises, and the bottom paint is a
lovely shade of purple. While the divers
jumped in and saw tons of spanish hogfish,
marbled grouper, and the usual other rig
creatures, the crew spent our time trying to
remove the thorn from the lions pay. Melanie
cut for an hour and a half, until she ran
low on air, then I took over, Larry Deweese,
Jean-Anne Booth, and Dennis Fanning also
spent their time under the boat. The rope
was a 6 inch tow ship’s hawser that had been
picked up in the lightering area, and it was
a monumental task to remove it. When I got
in, there was one more wrap around the
shaft, and one more around the prop. I cut
those, and thought we were home free, and
cast them off to shake it out. I must have
missed something, because the boat reported
a rumble in that shaft after they left. Boy,
is Melanie mad at me. We ended up on
Stetson Bank Buoy number 3 for the afternoon
and night. The water temp here is 84, seas
were flat, and the occasional squall blew
through just to keep Melanie and Jean-Anne
wet on the swim deck. Turtles, cowries,
grouper, angelfish, and lots of little tiny
guys were spotted. We shifted to buoy number
2 for the next morning, where we again saw
all of the stuff Stetson is known for,
except our lobsters. I hope they were tasty,
you bastards!! (I think I know who took
them, but I can prove nothing. Maybe they
decided to migrate to Mexico) It was a
great trip, with a fun group of divers. I
hope to repeat it next year. Captain Frank
M/V Spree
Freeport, Texas |
