Boarding and Briefing:
This is a continuation of my aborted attempt to do a trip report during the trip. The trip took place from 7:30pm 7/30 to 6:30pm 8/4. This was not one of the regularly run charters they have aboard the MV Fling. Everybody making the trip were REEF members doing fish surveys on every dive. I will write more about the specifics of that later on, for now I would like to describe procedures common to the vessel and diving off same. Also, despite having worked on cargo ships as a marine engineer for thirty years, my live aboard diving boat experience is very limited. With just one other live aboard experience prior to this. So at times some of this might get excruciatingly detailed, anything left out can be found on the MV Fling website.
We arrived for boarding at 1930 on July 30, 2023. The first thing they had everybody do is disinfect their gear in large tubs. A precautionary step not to bring any infectious diseases to the corals out at the Flower Gardens. We were each given a plastic tab with our berth number on it (mine was 18). This gets tie wrapped to D-ring on your BC for the duration of trip. It is removed at the end of the last dive. The crew uses that number to keep track of dive entry and exits and do follow ups on how you are feeling between dives.
After part of MV Fling at the dock in Freeport, Texas.
When the dive gear was disinfected, they gave a very minor briefing on setting up gear and then we were allowed to board. There are four rows of tanks with benches. Two of the rows are down the center and two on either side. There are no assigned spots. You pick a tank, put your BC on it, and stow your other stuff under the bench. That spot remains yours for the duration of the trip. Above each bench are rails with hangers for wetsuits. They suggest not to hang wetsuits on the rails over the side benches while underway, as they might get blown overboard. This leads to everybody hanging their wetsuits in the middle, which becomes a bit distraction for those with middle bench seats (I was the port middle bench forward near the camera station). There are whips from the filling stations over the benches. After a dive you remove your first stage, and the crew member in charge of filling attaches the whip to fill the tank. Dust cover put back on the valve signifies a filled tank. Fills were to 3200 psi in an 80cuft aluminum tank.
Once we had dive gear set up, we had just enough time to stow dry gear in our cabins, and they started the vessel safety/vessel general/dive procedure/galley briefing as we were getting underway at about 2030, this took about1.5 hours. I am not going to describe vessel safety and vessel general surveys.
There are three heads (toilets on the ship), the one forward is used sparingly and only to pee because it has small piping from it to the sewage plant and is prone to clogging. Forward cabins fit two people, aft cabins fit four people, and there are four bunks that are in the aft passageway. Total compliment of passengers is 30, we had 22. I was in Cabin E, with one other person. So I had the top bunk to spread out all my dry stuff. These cabins don't have a lot of space. There is some room to stow bags under the bottom bunk, if you happen to have four in a room. I thought having just the three heads would make things uncomfortable, but I never had waited more than a few minutes to use one. Getting up earlier than the wakeup call helps, because at least half the people will get up at that time and to the heads all at the same time.
There are three meals a day plus snacks in between, really almost too much food. Continental breakfast before the first dive at 0800. Hot breakfast after the dive. Lunch after the 1100 dive, snacks before the 1600 dive, dinner and desert at 1800, night dive at somewhere between 1900-2030, and then another desert! After the night dive on the first day, Tiffany made a blackberry cobbler to die for. It’s all comfort food, tacos, pulled pork, shepherd’s pie, burgers, Texas Barbecue, chicken and rice. They will make vegetarian dishes if that is what your diet requires.
There are seven crew members, two captains, two divemaster’s, the tankfill person, and the most important people two cooks. Being from a maritime background I thought two captains was somewhat of an oddity, I would expect a captain and a mate. On this trip we had David and Michael as captains. Aaron and John as divemasters. Tiara and Tiffany in the galley, and Jake filling air tanks. Briefing took about ninety minutes. I can't say enough nice things about the entire crew. They are all friendly, patient, and professional. Only the captains are compensated by the company, crew works for tips. I tipped appropriately for what I thought was excellent service. On day three a fast boat hired by the company to bring a spare part out to the vessel (nitrox compressor part) also brought a replacement cook (Penny) to replace Tiffany. Tiffany was suffering from maybe a sinus infection that just would not quit. Also, one of the passengers had a medical condition unrelated to diving. So the passenger, her husband, and Tiffany all left on the fast boat, and Penny stayed behind.
Lastly from the briefings is the dive procedure. The ship ties into a moored buoy. One of the divemaster’s runs a line from about halfway down the mooring line to the aft of the vessel (the sideline) where the ladders are located. In addition to that line, they run a tag line behind the vessel as 100 yards, with more lines standing by to extend it. They attach smaller lines to each ladder. Descents are made by giant striding off port or starboard just aft house and then pulling oneself down the line running to the mooring line and pulling down the mooring line. Ascents are made similarly except you work your way to the aft the boat, when a ladder is clear, grabbing the ladder line, removing fins, and then climbing the ladder. Dive master checks your bunk tag number and records max depth and time of dive. They don't allow free descents and ascents; you are supposed to use the lines for that. They have two weighted safety stop lines, one with a regulator on it. You can come offline to use the safety stop lines prior to using the ladder line. Because of currents, most of the time it was easier to use the lines for ascent or descent (their way). Occasionally I found myself dropping off a line quickly or doing free ascent (my way) depending on my relative position to the boat, the reef, and what the current was doing. In a really ripping current it would be most advisable to stay on the lines. The procedure is similar for the oil rig dives, but there is no mooring line. The boat is tied to platform forward, the sideline is attached directly to the rig. You take the sideline down to the rig, remain within the boundaries of the rig for the dive, and return by sideline. Letting the current move you along while you gently let the sideline slide through your hand, as opposed to pulling on the sideline which might have the unintended consequence of pulling the boat towards the rig. Night dives required cylum or tank light for each diver. One light per diver, plus one light per buddy team.
Once aboard after a dive, there are two large rinse barrels for cameras. There is a large table dedicated for camera storage. There are two very good shower heads just aft of all the gear. I believe they have a dedicated shower inside the vessel but seems to me that everybody used the shower heads outside for rinsing and bathing. That might not be practical during cooler months but during July and August it was perfect. All the warm water you could possibly want.
