Dive Report: Flower Gardens 5/30-31

[thevalkyry]

How crowded was your trip?

Best part - boat was about half full. I got 2 bunks - 1 for me and 1 for my stuff And so we had lots of room to spread out. Honestly, I cant imagine the dive deck being much more crowded than it was - it was an ideal number of people.

 

[psychocabbage]

The wife wants to do this trip. Im just not a fan of live aboards because my diet is very limited (I am a super picky eater and dont eat most foods).

Other than that, it sounds like fun..

I for some reason or another enjoy the big fish around me..
Thanks for the report!

 

[Illini_Fan]

yep -- that is my fear about the Fling. How would they get 28 divers into the water for each dive. Seems like you could be waiting 20+ minutes if everyone had cameras that needed to be lowered down.

But...... I really want to go diving and I love how close the Flower Gardens are.

 

[Guba]

No fear, Illini...There is enough variation in how folks don gear that I've found there's rarely a "pile-up" at the gate. I've never had to wait more than a couple of minutes to get off the boat. Getting on is also relatively crowd-free. (However, if there's wave action, re-boarding the boat can be the most challenging part of the trip. Yee-Haw, cowboy!)

 

[LarryW99]

I want to take this trip, but with someone who has taken it or the gazillion dives. Ready to get out of the swamp and into some salt water.

 

[LarryW99]

I would like more info on this trip if you have a chance to send it to me. You said it was going to be "diving boot camp" but looks like it was worth it. If I survive the Cat Ppalou in a couple of weeks I want to go to Flower Gardens. Lot more to see than at the Terrell Swamp. But, I'll be at the swamp this weekend.

 

[scubafanatic]

The wife wants to do this trip. Im just not a fan of live aboards because my diet is very limited (I am a super picky eater and dont eat most foods).

Other than that, it sounds like fun..

I for some reason or another enjoy the big fish around me..
Thanks for the report!

...well, I long ago arrived at the point where pretty much all I want to do is liveaboards ! ....The whole point of a vacation is to not have to screw with logistics...once on the boat, there are no more plans/decisions that have to be made...no taxi's/endless tips/figuring out where/what everyone wants to eat/ no gear schlepping-setting up over and over/no forgetting stuff/car rentals...no trying to herd cats with group members all pulling in different directions...I want to focus on diving, period!

Karl

 

[scubafanatic]

yep -- that is my fear about the Fling. How would they get 28 divers into the water for each dive. Seems like you could be waiting 20+ minutes if everyone had cameras that needed to be lowered down.

But...... I really want to go diving and I love how close the Flower Gardens are.

...as GUBA says, the 'entry' isn't generally the problem...the crew quickly gets you in the water once you're at the starting gate for splashdown.....but it can get 'sticky' exiting the water in rough water, sometimes all the divers are ready to reboard simultaneously...and there are only 1 or 2 trailing lines for exit, so sometimes divers will 'pileup' waiting for the divers in front to exit, but the diver's 'in front' can't exit promptly 'cause the boat is heaving up and down a lot, so they are waiting for a chance/moment, trying to time the boat's motions so they don't get slammed/crushed by the boat's stern. This is the point where newbie divers learn about the uses of a snorkel, or the wisdom of leaving adequate gas reserves in their tanks to accomodate the possibility of having to cool-their-heels a while as they wait in line to reboard. It can be very stressful watching your SPG dropping to '0' PSI, the seas too rough for snorkels...waiting to reboard...I dive bigger tanks there and am plenty experienced enough to factor in such variables...but I've seen 'newbie' divers discover this the hard way.

Karl

 

[scubafanatic]

yep -- that is my fear about the Fling. How would they get 28 divers into the water for each dive. Seems like you could be waiting 20+ minutes if everyone had cameras that needed to be lowered down.

But...... I really want to go diving and I love how close the Flower Gardens are.

...if memory serves.....the recently departed SPREE handles 24 divers max...while FLING handles 32 divers max...and yes, the 24 max divers of SPREE was a comfortable upper limit with respect to deck space/overall crowding...really wouldn't want to be on FLING with 32 divers!

 

[psychocabbage]

...well, I long ago arrived at the point where pretty much all I want to do is liveaboards ! ....The whole point of a vacation is to not have to screw with logistics...once on the boat, there are no more plans/decisions that have to be made...no taxi's/endless tips/figuring out where/what everyone wants to eat/ no gear schlepping-setting up over and over/no forgetting stuff/car rentals...no trying to herd cats with group members all pulling in different directions...I want to focus on diving, period!

Karl

I could understand that.. Really.. but really only see enjoying a liveaboard if they can cater to my finicky appetite.
Seriously, I only eat white meat chicken or high end steaks and rice or potatoes. I dont eat greens of any sort. I dont have fajitas with onions. I have fajitas with cheese and tortilla and nothing else. No guac, no pico, no salad, no dressing. I am 38 and dont think I will be changing in my ways so I would have to be assured that they have food for me in order for me to go. If I cant eat, I wont be able to dive since I will exhaust myself.

I may call them up and see if they can meet my dietary needs and if so, then I can arrange a trip for just the wife and I. We will be in Cozumel July 1st-8th and have gone enough to have learned how to do it all now.. We will show up, pick up our 2 cars, get to our rented house on the beach.. throw bags in the room, grab gear, suit up, get back in car, drive quickly to Del mar aquatics, get tanks and either shore dive or get on an afternoon dive, and twilight or night dive. If they are not running boats that night, we get a few tanks and do some shore dives and a night dive on our own.