Galveston

[lackingcreativity]

This up comming week I am being forced to travel to Galveston. At the initial mention of this I grunt disgustingly at the tought, but after a while an idea came upon me. I am aware of the water quality and altough most divers would never set foot in the water with their dive gear, it seemsto me that there would be a bunch of lost articles to recover in this area. I just was hoping to get any thought on diving in Galveston for "treasure."
Thanks

 

[Cudabait]

Take your gear and dive on Offatt's Bayou. Forget the surf, etc. Jetties, maybe, with a boat and if you really know what you're doing. Offatt's.....park on 61st Sttreet away from the public boat launch. Make shore entry and dive the rocks. You'll see some fish, blue & stone crabs...viz should be about 6-8 feet, more or less. some commercial dive schools do some of their training right there.

Regards,

 

[lackingcreativity]

How dangerous is the site: boat traffic, fishing hooks, fishing line, etc?

 

[mstevens]

Take your gear and dive on Offatt's Bayou. Forget the surf, etc. Jetties, maybe, with a boat and if you really know what you're doing. Offatt's.....park on 61st Sttreet away from the public boat launch. Make shore entry and dive the rocks. You'll see some fish, blue & stone crabs...viz should be about 6-8 feet, more or less. some commercial dive schools do some of their training right there.

Jeez. When I lived on Offatt's Bayou (on Avenue L) I could step off our dock into... really murky, impenetrable water most of the time. My wife and I used to do it all the time just to get underwater and to get a study break, but I'll swear the visibility was more like 6 to 8 INCHES most of the time. I've seen people training 20-30 feet away and always wondered if those poor people would ever dive again.

Maybe it's cleared up in the last 10 years since I moved. I always wanted to see a blue crab swimming free - we once caught a very small one and put it in our saltwater tank, where overnight it killed everything else. Never saw it swimming, either...

 

[mstevens]

This up comming week I am being forced to travel to Galveston. At the initial mention of this I grunt disgustingly at the tought, but after a while an idea came upon me. I am aware of the water quality and altough most divers would never set foot in the water with their dive gear, it seemsto me that there would be a bunch of lost articles to recover in this area. I just was hoping to get any thought on diving in Galveston for "treasure."

Well, my father-in-law's Rolex is somewhere in Chocolate Bayou (or was it Dutchman's?). We never found it. We also never found the anchor he dropped off his dock into Offatt's Bayou until after we'd abandoned scuba and someone jumped in and stubbed their toe on it. The water quality isn't that bad, unless you include visibility

There is, of course, the Flower Gardens if you've got enough time to sit in a boat, or some interesting oil rigs closer in.

Living on Galvatraz for 11 years I never ceased to be amazed that the diving was better when I was at A&M, when we'd drive to Austin to assistant-teach in the PE department's courses (scuba for credit! Yeah.)

Go by Benno's on the Beach or Shrimp 'n Stuff for some seafood, and hit El Nopalito (the original one on 41st, not the sanitized 61st street one) for breakfast burritos and the stay won't be so bad.

 

[Cudabait]

How dangerous is the site: boat traffic, fishing hooks, fishing line, etc?

Since you're gonna be there anyway, take a look....if you don't want to do it, find something else to do. Go during the week, boat traffic can be busy on weekends. I always wear a cutting tool when diving.

Regards,

 

[lackingcreativity]

Since you're gonna be there anyway, take a look....if you don't want to do it, find something else to do. Go during the week, boat traffic can be busy on weekends. I always wear a cutting tool when diving.

Regards,

Well so do I, I just try to avoid situations where i'll need it. What kind of depth can I expect there? Also, is this place suable for a solo dive? I usually avoid those, but every now and again I can't find an open buddy.

 

[Cudabait]

Well so do I, I just try to avoid situations where i'll need it. What kind of depth can I expect there? Also, is this place suable for a solo dive? I usually avoid those, but every now and again I can't find an open buddy.

Salt water, 30' max depth, rocks on shorerline at 61st St., can solo dive.....go check it out......or forget it.

 

[lackingcreativity]

Salt water, 30' max depth, rocks on shorerline at 61st St., can solo dive.....go check it out......or forget it.

Thanks for all your help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!