Wow. What a great sendoff from Texas by the weather, and the CHUM Club. CHUM don't need no tropical storm to enjoy great diving.

23 passengers and 8 crew got underway with a particularly yucky forecast and headed out for Sonnier Bank AKA Three Hickeys Rock AKA Candy Mountain. The forecast was for Nate to turn into a real storm and head north to Texas before heading inland. We knew that the winds would not directly affect us, but it was predicted for Sunday to have 7-11 foot seas in a Northeast (??) swell. None of the forecasts made any sense to me, so I threw caution to the wind (as it were) and kicked it in the butt for Sonnier.

We spent the entire night steaming hard, as Sonnier is 135 miles from Galveston, so we had to push it to make it there for morning. We arrived at 0900 and sent Melanie in to find the mooring pin. Now, we know where the pin is, having tied to it many times, and it just wasn't there. The Manta Ray receiver was on a concrete block near where the mooring was, but both the mooring and the drum of concrete that was used as an anchor way back when the mooring was set in 1996 was missing too. I suspect that when we left a mooring all the way to the surface back in 2006, some crewboat ripped it out, but we didn't know that, and no one saw fit to tell us. We searched until 11 AM when I finally called the Sanctuary office to ask if I was crazy, and they told me that no, I wasn't whacked, the mooring was missing. We anchored well off the wall and hung back over the pinnacle and got ready for some diving. I got in the water with the divers (I had 3 solo diver students) to find three menacing looking sandbar sharks swimming around and grinning. The only reason they were menacing looking was that they didn't give a hoot that divers were there. Their first pass by me was within 2 feet, and they hung around for the entire day, until they were joined by their buddies that evening. Mel jumped in the water to set the strobes for the night dive and got a little freaked out by 5 or more of the sharks. It was the big old grumpy Loggerhead turtle that really gave her fits. After retreating from the sharks (she got bumped) she lost the boat. While looking for the boat, she came across the turtle, who decided that she looked like a snack. The turtle charged her, and Mel can't swim backwards as fast as a turtle can swim at her. After trying to fend off the turtle with a fin, the turtle got tired of the game and bit the fin. With a cloud of poor visibility, Mel exited the water, levitated up the ladder, and launched into her night dive briefing. 5 unbelievers decided to make the night dive, and down they went into the briney deep. Only to be charged by the turtle themselves. Everyone had fun playing with the sharks (they like the meaty ones, you know), and Ryan had to fend off the turtle by strobing it with his camera, many more got back on the boat after very short dives. Seas were 2-3 feet all day, visibility was 100+ feet, there was no current, and water temps were 82 degrees (yay). The growth on Sonnier has come back some from the storms of 2005 with an encrusting growth on the shallow bits, and fire coral almost everywhere. The fire coral is bleached completely out, so the top of the reef at Sonnier is very easy to find. We felt like we were not as high on the food chain as we were used to being, so we upped anchor and headed for the Flower Gardens.

We arrived at the East bank on Friday morning and found 2-3 foot seas, a mild current that would get stiffer during the day, water temps of 82 that would rise through the day to 85, and clear clear vis. We made one dive on the East Bank and decided to make a rig dive at HI-389. 389 had the usual fare, including great growth on the legs and cross members, but it has been disappointing this year for the lack of fish life. It was still an enjoyable dive, and a first rig dive for many of our passengers. After 389 we went back to East Bank to poke around. There were a number of tiger grouper on the reef, but as far as big fish went, the water is just still too hot. I got a report from the dive team on the NOAA vessel Nancy Foster who reported many large grouper down in the 150 foot range. The paling of the Montastrea Cavernosa coral is epidemic on the East Bank with over 90% of the heads paled, and 75% of the heads showing some amount of bleaching. The fire coral on the East Bank is 100% bleached. Really nothing of note on the East Bank.

I got up early and headed for the West Bank on Saturday. What a breath of fresh air the West Bank was over the East Bank. Water temps were about the same, but the reef was much healthier. Bigger grouper were up on the reef cap, I saw tiger, yellowfin, yellowmouth, and scamp. I went in search of the lone lionfish that I know is there, but never saw it. A Manta Ray came by to visit on dive number 2, and I didn't see it either (having my head down looking for lionfish, you know). Water temp was 85, vis was 100+, current was mild at the surface and none at the bottom. Seas were 1-2 feet. After the West Bank we headed for HI-382F for another rig dive. 382F had many large game fish including snapper and amberjack, but the current was hooked right up. The best dive was had in and amongst the conductor pipes at the far side of the platform. After the platform dive we headed out for Stetson. When we got near Stetson, I thought I saw the Point Glass tied up to a buoy there. I hailed them on the radio, but as I got closer, I saw that the tall white vessel there still had an orange stripe. The Coast Guard was taking an afternoon off and hanging out on Stetson Bank relaxing. I did get a hold of them to make sure that they didn't have any divers in, which they didn't. We tied up on Stetson number 2 and jumped in the water. Now, the forecast was for 7-11 foot seas, but we were suffering through 1-2's. We saw more sandbar sharks, but they weren't near as "friendly" as the ones we'd seen on Sonnier. We had great conditions and most everyone agreed that Stetson was the highlight of the trip. There was a big loggerhead on the night dive that acted like a turtle should. It didn't eat Mel's fin, but looked at her and kept on doing turtle things. We felt much more welcome in Texas.

Sunday morning dawned bright and clear and it would be a beautiful day for a boat ride. We made 2 dives on Stetson, and the face of Stetson seems to be changing. There were big yellowtail snapper, which I'd never seen there before, the usual school of mangrove snapper, some very large dog snapper, amberjacks, some small Alcamo jacks, and tons and tons of babies. Stetson really rocked today.

I want to thank all of the folks who joined us in Texas to make the Spree Texas Tour a success. We head back to Florida tomorrow morning to make some dives on the Oriskany and Ozark before heading back to the Keys. We don't plan to return to Texas for a couple of years, but I'm sure we will return again. Sometime before I'm too old to enjoy Stetson Bank some more.