Article: South Padre, The Great American Barrier Reef

[Cyprian]

Hey folks, I just got an email from American Diving in SPI with a link to this article. It's a short, easy read discussing the various dive opportunities down around the Padre/Port Mansfield area. I know some of these are well documented an American Diving has general info on their website, but it's nice to see an article pop up about Texas gulf diving. Maybe it will attract more divers, which in turn will create more diving opportunities.

South Padre Island: The Great

Safe dives,

Cyp

 

[chairmanTARAC]

Without a doubt the best article on South padre diving and recreational opportunities I have read. You are right on about attracting more divers and creating more dive opportunities. Unfortunately, When you check dive centers across Texas you rarely find any trips scheduled or articles such as this promoting gulf diving.The state monitors economic impact and tourism impact, and. several state officials believe"Divers don't Count." If divers want another ship down it will be up to them to dive and show they appreciate the four million dollar effort. Thanks for your sharing

 

[Bill Parker]

Great article. Tell me about it, Chairman. I see great articles on Texas gulf diving but, other than the Flower Gardens, there is zero organizational infrastructure that gets together a group that can fill a boat. Lots of boats along the coast that can take you to sites that sound interesting but nobody works on getting a group together to split the costs of operating a boat. And I don't know how to do it either.

 

[Tejasmtb]

The Clipper has been on my "to dive" list since last year, I'm up for a trip. Let's stop talking about the lack of interest and fill a boat people!

 

[Cyprian]

The Clipper has been on my "to dive" list since last year, I'm up for a trip. Let's stop talking about the lack of interest and fill a boat people!

I agree! As mentioned, it is one of the first "trip topics" of our newly-forming dive club....which I have been silent about for the past couple of days. I'll let the weekend run its course when some divers drop by the boards and then I will be back to stirring up the membership pot....so to speak.

Safe dives,

Cyp

 

[Cyprian]

Without a doubt the best article on South padre diving and recreational opportunities I have read. You are right on about attracting more divers and creating more dive opportunities. Unfortunately, When you check dive centers across Texas you rarely find any trips scheduled or articles such as this promoting gulf diving.The state monitors economic impact and tourism impact, and. several state officials believe"Divers don't Count." If divers want another ship down it will be up to them to dive and show they appreciate the four million dollar effort. Thanks for your sharing

Chairman,

Thanks for posting. I welcome any information that you can share concerning the promulgation of gulf diving, specifically as it relates to the Texas Artificial Reef Advisory Committee's goals, volunteer activities, etc.

As a matter of fact, I have intended to search for more information about the TX program, but will admit procrastination on my part.

That said, the newly forming diving club that I mentioned in the previous post has, as one of its goals: conservation. I couldn't think of a better speaker concerning the artificial reef program, than yourself. Would you be available for a presentation once we get our group formed? If time or travel arrangements do not allow this, I would still love to present any information that you wish to share to the members. And I might even travel to your location to discuss the program so I would be better equipped to deliver a brief presentation.

Thanks again.

 

[Cyprian]

Great article. Tell me about it, Chairman. I see great articles on Texas gulf diving but, other than the Flower Gardens, there is zero organizational infrastructure that gets together a group that can fill a boat. Lots of boats along the coast that can take you to sites that sound interesting but nobody works on getting a group together to split the costs of operating a boat. And I don't know how to do it either.

Billy, I would like to see this as well.

What I would really like to see is boat captains that will take 10+ divers out on gulf artificial reef and rig trips. This will minimize costs. While I respect the charter boat captains that already provide this service, most only take 4-5 divers. At $350-400 (just using a baseline number) this is beyond a lot of diver's budget. Those who can afford it, often neglect to join in because they simply don't want to pay that kind of money for a 2 tank dive.

I mean no offense to any boat captain/charter operator here and will be the first to admit my ignorance of boats as pertains to size versus total number of passengers and/or weight including scuba tanks, other gear, etc. I just feel that someone that could put 10 divers on for say $175-200 a piece versus 4 divers at $400 would get a lot more business. Again, slap me if I am in err here. Regardless, I would like to see more boats offering diving in the gulf, especially a little closer than South Padre....not that I won't make the Clipper a once or twice a year trip, but I would make closer areas in the gulf a little more often given the opportunity!

We've reached the end of my rambling for now.

Safe dives,

Cyp

 

[Cyprian]

Well, after throwing those general prices up in the wee hours of the morning as my baseline number, I did drop back and check a few gulf diving charters that I have book-marked.

I see Ultra Dive runs rig trips with up to 6 divers for $265 per diver (plus tip). That's not bad at all.

Fish-n-Divers goes with 4-5 divers and prices range from $320-500 per diver depending on where you want to go.

Elite Diving and Sport Fishing (Laredo Scuba Diver mentioned this) does have a small boat for 4 divers that goes out for $700 total, and the larger boats go up in rate per diver.

I know there are more, but I do not want to keep listing. So it would seem that we are talking about a broad price range with most being in or around the $300-400 range.

My question still stands about a boat that can carry more divers.

I'm going to post these links, instead of typing a bunch of information, but look at the boats and rates on this Florida Gulf Charter as an example:

Dive Charters in PCB, Florida

Is there a reason that some of these boats are in the same length range and carry more divers? Again, my knowledge of boats, especially ocean going vessels is nil at best.

Thanks for all replies,

Cyp

 

[txyaloo]

Well, after throwing those general prices up in the wee hours of the morning as my baseline number, I did drop back and check a few gulf diving charters that I have book-marked.

I see Ultra Dive runs rig trips with up to 6 divers for $265 per diver (plus tip). That's not bad at all.

Fish-n-Divers goes with 4-5 divers and prices range from $320-500 per diver depending on where you want to go.

Elite Diving and Sport Fishing (Laredo Scuba Diver mentioned this) does have a small boat for 4 divers that goes out for $700 total, and the larger boats go up in rate per diver.

I know there are more, but I do not want to keep listing. So it would seem that we are talking about a broad price range with most being in or around the $300-400 range.

My question still stands about a boat that can carry more divers.

I'm going to post these links, instead of typing a bunch of information, but look at the boats and rates on this Florida Gulf Charter as an example:

Dive Charters in PCB, Florida

Is there a reason that some of these boats are in the same length range and carry more divers? Again, my knowledge of boats, especially ocean going vessels is nil at best.

Thanks for all replies,

Cyp

The cost is one of the main reasons my dive buddies and I don't do a ton of Texas gulf diving. For less than the cost of a trip to SPI, we can drive to Florida, dive the Oriskany, multiple near-shore wrecks, and quite a few springs.

If the costs were $65-125 for a two tank dive, diving the Texas gulf would be a much better value/option.

 

[Teller]

I dove the Texas Clipper last summer for about $175.