9/16 Port Aransas Trip

[dwardtxusa]

I am looking for one more diver for atrip to the rigs out of Port Aransas. We are diving with Out to Sea on the Orion. One of our divers had to cancell. There are four of us using Nitrox and one compressed air, so you could go either way. If you are intrested
e-mail me at dwwatersports@yahoo.com

This is a three dive trip. We leave the dock at 7AM and return at
5PM. You have to bring your own Nitrox or let me know and I can bring it for you. We can get compressed air at the boat but must call ahead and let Mike (the captian) know a few days ahead of time.

Cost is $200.00 for the boat ride plus air. You bring all your own equipment and food. We will be staying in PA the night before and you are welcome to share a Hotel room with one of us or do your own.

 

[texdiveguy]

Look forward to a 'report'....I know one of your divers on that charter. I will be in the Gulf at the end of October//weather allowing, for some rig dips myself out of Freeport.

 

[Ed Marshall]

I joined this trip and had a blast. It was comparable to Cozumel, in my opinion. I got up at 5:45 a.m. (ouch!) and we took a 2 hour boat ride out to some of the 26 mile oil rigs off of Port Aransas. There were 6 of us on a 40 foot deep sea fishing boat plus the divemaster and captain. It was a rough ride in 3 foot swells but the weather was perfect otherwise. The divemaster waived off the 1st rig we reached at 18 miles due to bad visibility. The 2nd rig is where we began, at 26 miles out.

The rigs sit in about 120-140 feet of water and it is a little intimidating to roll off of a boat in the middle of the open ocean without land in sight. But once down, the visibility was 100 feet plus and water temperature was 82 degrees. I've posted some of my photos at my website. We did 3 dives on 2 different rigs. The 1st went to 90 feet, then we worked our way back up through the rig. The 2nd dive was to 82 feet. Both dives were in the 40 minute range.

The 3rd dive was probably the best. For this, we moved to another, larger rig. I registered 82 feet again on this dive and close to 50 minutes. The other divers were using nitrox but I didn't have any problems keeping up with them on air. I did have to watch my NDL time pretty closely, though. Many times it was significantly less than my remaining air time! In those cases, I just tried to stay 10-15 feet above the nitrox divers to avoid loading to much nitrogen.

Several of the other divers were spearfishing, bagging a few barracuda (good eating, I was told) and a sheepshead. There were literally tens of thousands of fish on these rigs, ranging from tropical reef fish to big pelagic fish. There were amazing amounts of hydroids, zoanthid corals, and even some acropora (although there was a lot of bleaching). We returned at about 6:30 p.m. It was a long day but who knew there was diving to rival Cozumel just a few miles off the Texas coast?

If the link above doesn't work, you can find my pictures at: http://edward.marshall.googlepages.com/home

Ed

 

[texdiveguy]

Ed... Thanks...great trip report and some very nice pictures!!

 

[Willie]

Thanks for the report and the pictures. Glad you guys had a good trip.

Willie

 

[dwardtxusa]

Ed,
Great post!
We had a great trip. Glad you could join us. I will add a few pics this week. Hope to see you again on another dive.

To the crew of the Orion: Thanks for a great trip!! The Madisonville crew has already grilled up some of the Baracudda and said it was very tasty.

To all Texans: If you have not made a trip out in the Gulf, you should add it to your list of places you need to dive! Well worth the drive to Port Aransas!!!!