phoenix09
Registered
Just got back from my first Flower Gardens trip...it was amazing! We boarded around 8:30, loaded up all our gear and got the scuba gear set up for the next morning. Headed into the galley to visit and eat, then had briefings on dives, general boat procedures, galley rules, etc.
6:00 came way too early the next day...especially since I was sleeping in one of the cabins under the wheelhouse, so we were rocking and rolling all night long as the boat headed out to the Gardens. The first dive was amazing, though. We started out on the west bank, as the current were too strong on east bank for a safe dive. It was my first ocean dive, so I stayed with a few of the other people from my dive shop on the trip and our divemaster took us around a bit as we checked out the area and got used to it. Visibility was supposedly not so great by Gardens standards, but still seemed amazing to me - around 80'. The coral was beautiful, and we saw a TON of barracuda...they especially seemed to like hanging out at safety stop depth. One interesting thing I found out was in regards to my air consumption. I started out with 3100 psi in my tank, we went down to around 80' and stayed there for most of the dive. After a while my computer was showing that I was getting a fair amount of nitrogen in my system, so my buddy and I headed back to the mooring line while I had about 10 mins of bottom time left. We did our ascent, made a 3 min safety stop at 15', then made it back onto the boat. After all this, I finished with 1100 psi in my tank. When I told the DM afterward, he got a shocked look on his face and told me that was really good - he was even more shocked when I told him I almost always end up going through my air the quickest on my first dive.
Next 2 dives were also at west bank, very similar to the first dive - we saw more underwater life, though. It started raining before the third dive, so that was an interesting experience - it didn't throw anyone off too much, though.
For the rest of our dives, we went straight to Stetson Bank. My buddy and I mostly stayed around the mooring pin at first, but as we got more confident we went further away, and ended up spending most of the time in the pinnacle and just over the edge of the bank. The life here was incredible...stingrays, eels, schools of fish everywhere. We even saw a lobster and a sea cucumber at one point.
I couldn't believe the visibility and how much there was too see at the Gardens and Stetson Bank - I could have stayed down there for hours if my air/nitrogen load had let me. I did a lot of hanging at 40-15 feet, since I had so much air coming up, and that was a popular spot for barracuda, though it was a little unnerving when they stared at you.
The food was great and crew very nice and helpful (I was on the Fling). Overall, the trip was absolutely amazing...I'm sure there's tons of stuff I'm leaving out, but there's so much to do there and see. I would definitely go back again...hopefully after I do a nitrox course, so I can stay down longer - that's next on my list. I definitely recommend using nitrox if you're certified to do so, if you have good air consumption it can get you a lot more bottom time.
6:00 came way too early the next day...especially since I was sleeping in one of the cabins under the wheelhouse, so we were rocking and rolling all night long as the boat headed out to the Gardens. The first dive was amazing, though. We started out on the west bank, as the current were too strong on east bank for a safe dive. It was my first ocean dive, so I stayed with a few of the other people from my dive shop on the trip and our divemaster took us around a bit as we checked out the area and got used to it. Visibility was supposedly not so great by Gardens standards, but still seemed amazing to me - around 80'. The coral was beautiful, and we saw a TON of barracuda...they especially seemed to like hanging out at safety stop depth. One interesting thing I found out was in regards to my air consumption. I started out with 3100 psi in my tank, we went down to around 80' and stayed there for most of the dive. After a while my computer was showing that I was getting a fair amount of nitrogen in my system, so my buddy and I headed back to the mooring line while I had about 10 mins of bottom time left. We did our ascent, made a 3 min safety stop at 15', then made it back onto the boat. After all this, I finished with 1100 psi in my tank. When I told the DM afterward, he got a shocked look on his face and told me that was really good - he was even more shocked when I told him I almost always end up going through my air the quickest on my first dive.
Next 2 dives were also at west bank, very similar to the first dive - we saw more underwater life, though. It started raining before the third dive, so that was an interesting experience - it didn't throw anyone off too much, though.
For the rest of our dives, we went straight to Stetson Bank. My buddy and I mostly stayed around the mooring pin at first, but as we got more confident we went further away, and ended up spending most of the time in the pinnacle and just over the edge of the bank. The life here was incredible...stingrays, eels, schools of fish everywhere. We even saw a lobster and a sea cucumber at one point.
I couldn't believe the visibility and how much there was too see at the Gardens and Stetson Bank - I could have stayed down there for hours if my air/nitrogen load had let me. I did a lot of hanging at 40-15 feet, since I had so much air coming up, and that was a popular spot for barracuda, though it was a little unnerving when they stared at you.
The food was great and crew very nice and helpful (I was on the Fling). Overall, the trip was absolutely amazing...I'm sure there's tons of stuff I'm leaving out, but there's so much to do there and see. I would definitely go back again...hopefully after I do a nitrox course, so I can stay down longer - that's next on my list. I definitely recommend using nitrox if you're certified to do so, if you have good air consumption it can get you a lot more bottom time.
