Hammerheads at Flower Garden Banks

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Zinc

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I'm a Fish!
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February and March is when Hammerheads return to school at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary each year. The Sanctuary includes the Flower Gardens East and West Banks as well as Stetson Bank.

If you have never been, the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary is Texas best blue water Caribbean style diving and you can get there via all-inclusive weekend dive trips aboard the M/V Fling. Trips are booked through local dive shops which can be found on the Fling Calendar.

Weather is looking good so far for this weekend and I've got my fingers crossed to get out there and see some Hammerheads! :D

Resource Articles:
Fling Charters
LiquidTravel.org - Travel Article
Encyclopedia of the Earth
GulfBase.org
WikiPedia
Texas Parks and Wildlife
 

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February and March is when Hammerheads return to school at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary each year. The Sanctuary includes the Flower Gardens East and West Banks as well as Stetson Bank.

If you have never been, the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary is Texas best blue water Caribbean style diving and you can get there via all-inclusive weekend dive trips aboard the M/V Fling. Trips are booked through local dive shops which can be found on the Fling Calendar.

Weather is looking good so far for this weekend and I've got my fingers crossed to get out there and see some Hammerheads! :D

Resource Articles:
Fling Charters
LiquidTravel.org - Travel Article
Encyclopedia of the Earth
GulfBase.org
WikiPedia
Texas Parks and Wildlife

I heard that you did go out last night. and there were some spots open on the boat too.

Please share the trip report when you get back.
 
Great Trip! My favorite sightings this trip were Tiger Sharks & Manta Ray; I missed the Hammerheads but I did see a cool pic another diver took of 9 schooling. He was at 40', they were at 15'.

Excellent Trip Report by the Captain

Here's the Text:

Trip Report February 19-20, 2011

The last few years February trips have been few and far between, but we had a bit of a weather window and decided to give it a try. The forecast wasn’t too good early in the week but improved by Friday morning. Predictions were 3 to 6 foot seas on our way out Friday night, 3 to 5 feet all day Saturday, and 3 to 6 feet and building on Sunday.

Fortunately the seas stayed on the low side of the forecast for most of the trip. We left Freeport Friday evening with 17 passengers, 5 stowaways (including Admiral Ken and his son Dale), and 7 crew. We braced ourselves for a rough ride out to the West Bank, but the eight and a half hour ride was remarkably smooth.

We arrived on the West Bank and moored on buoy #1 around 6:15am, and after a short wait on the sun, started our first dive about 7:20. Seas at the West Bank were 2 to 3 feet, visibility around 60 feet, water temperature on the reef 63 degrees, and a fairly strong current. Divers saw a nurse shark, a couple of tiger sharks, and various other critters. The biggest tiger shark was 8 to 14 feet long…depending on the teller of the tale.

After two dives on the West Bank we headed to the High Island 389 platform. By the time we got to the 389 the sun was bright and warm, the wind was light, and the seas had fallen to about 2 feet. It was just a gorgeous day. Current on the platform was considerably less than on the West Bank, with a surface temperature of 64 degrees and about 50 foot visibility. Divers saw numerous silky sharks, schools of large amber jack barracuda, tons of fish of all sizes, and many different types of smaller life in the growth of the platform’s structure. Our divemaster even lead three silkys back to the boat for those of us who are too wimpy to get in the cold water to enjoy…thanks John! Every diver described the dive the same way – AWSOME!

At 3:30pm we moved to the East Bank and tied up on Buoy #5. Conditions were about the same as they were on the 389. Lots of the folks on board took advantage of the surface interval to enjoy the great weather on the sundeck. I would guess some sunburn remedies are being used about now. Quite a nice change from the freezing weather most of us experienced recently. Around 5:30 divers descended to find some very large sting rays, several mantas, a tiger shark, reef sharks, and a number of hammerheads. At 8:30, the bravest of the divers did a night dive and reported that it was great. They saw reef sharks, sting rays, and large schools of barracuda.

By the time the night dive was finished, seas were around 1 foot. We left the East Bank at 2:00am Sunday morning headed to Stetson Bank, and arrived at buoy #3 at 6:15. By the first dive the wind had picked up and the sea had increased to 4-5 feet. Current was mild, visibility around 30 feet, and water temperature 64 degrees. We did two dives at Stetson, and although visibility was lower than normal, divers saw reef sharks, mackerel, red snapper, morays, large angle fish, lots of urchins, and a variety of large schools of fish.

At noon we pointed the bow to Freeport and started home with a following sea, so we had a nice smooth ride back. Thanks again to a top notch crew and great customers for a great weekend.

Captain Bland
MV Fling
 
I was on that trip too, but don't have a lot to say about it. The water was warmer than I anticipated, but the current was strong, the seas were rough (though I've experienced worse), and the vis was pretty bad. Also, there appeared to be an awful lot of what could have been oil floating in the water (very dark - black to brown - wispy stuff), and the reef wasn't looking very healthy - precious few fish and little color in the coral. Only got one really short dive in (because of having to fight the current, mostly) and decided it wasn't worth gearing up to get in the water after that.

It also didn't help that I got hit with a sinus infection as I arrived in Freeport.
 
I was on that trip too, but don't have a lot to say about it. The water was warmer than I anticipated, but the current was strong, the seas were rough (though I've experienced worse), and the vis was pretty bad. Also, there appeared to be an awful lot of what could have been oil floating in the water (very dark - black to brown - wispy stuff), and the reef wasn't looking very healthy - precious few fish and little color in the coral. Only got one really short dive in (because of having to fight the current, mostly) and decided it wasn't worth gearing up to get in the water after that.

It also didn't help that I got hit with a sinus infection as I arrived in Freeport.

yikes, sounds like a worst case scenario. liveaboards are probably the only trips where i'll seriously consider buying travel insurance. moreso now that i've read your experience.
 
yikes, sounds like a worst case scenario. liveaboards are probably the only trips where i'll seriously consider buying travel insurance. moreso now that i've read your experience.

I wouldn't call it a worst case... The worst case would probably include things like getting a bloody nose from staff "helping" me into my gear, having gear stolen, losing my car keys overboard or getting back on shore to find the car's battery dead... getting seasick and/or an AGE or DCS hit... things like that. This was disappointing, but hardly the worst that could've happened... :D
 
I was on that trip too, but don't have a lot to say about it. The water was warmer than I anticipated, but the current was strong, the seas were rough (though I've experienced worse), and the vis was pretty bad.
Naimis, if you had made more than "one really short dive" you would have had a better experience to report on. Yes, the first dive at 8:00 Saturday had very strong current, not surprising for this time of year early in the morning. After descending, I spent most of my dive hanging on the mooring line where I observed a 10' Tiger shark, awesome!

Dive 2 was much less current and I was able to swim freely among the coral. Dive 3 on the rig was reported pleasant, with little current and lots of silky sharks. Dive 4 conditions were excellent with a Manta Ray gliding with us most of the dive. Others saw Hammerheads schooling above. Dive 5 at night was also great with no current. On Sunday, there was little current at Stetson, though the surface waves made boarding more challenging.
Also, there appeared to be an awful lot of what could have been oil floating in the water (very dark - black to brown - wispy stuff), and the reef wasn't looking very healthy - precious few fish and little color in the coral. Only got one really short dive in (because of having to fight the current, mostly) and decided it wasn't worth gearing up to get in the water after that.
I didn't see the oil you are referring to, but will clarify the following regarding the coral: the Flower Gardens are some of the healthiest reefs in the world. If you look closely, you will see that the visibility is less this time of year primarily because of living organisms, Plankton, etc. in the water (brown wispy stuff you mention perhaps?), that the large Pelagics like Whale Sharks and Manta Rays feed on. There are less fish out and about because the time of year and the hammerheads are schooling... I'd stay inside the reef too :cool2:

Also, you didn't see much color in the reef because color fades with depth as the longer wavelengths of natural light are absorbed by the surrounding water... it will always appear bluish-grey at 8:00am 65' down :wink:

Weather is looking good for this weekend... may have another chance to get out and see the Hammerheads:D
 
I'll be there this weekend - I came for the hammerheads, but am really excited for the tiger sharks.
 
Naimis, if you had made more than "one really short dive" you would have had a better experience to report on.
Probably :)
Yes, the first dive at 8:00 Saturday had very strong current, not surprising for this time of year early in the morning.
So did the 2nd dive of the day, at 11:45, which is when I made my one dive. I bailed on the first dive when it quickly became clear that I was underweighted and overbuoyant (the latter being largely due to the fact that my dry suit shoulder valve was closed).

Dive 2 was much less current and I was able to swim freely among the coral.
If the 11:45 dive was much less current, the 8am dive must have been murder.

I didn't see the oil you are referring to,
Not sure how you missed it, the 11:45 dive had so much crap in the water it looked like someone had dumped, say, a 50 gallon barrel of food coloring in the water nearby. Unfortunately I was too busy struggling to stay with my dive buddy to worry about taking any pictures (but at the time I didn't really think there was much worth taking pictures of in the first place).

I can certainly believe there was heavy microscopic critter infestation in the water, but there was a lot of other stuff too, sand and what-not. The usual sort of stuff you see in the water when the seas are rough.

Also, you didn't see much color in the reef because color fades with depth as the longer wavelengths of natural light are absorbed by the surrounding water... it will always appear bluish-grey at 8:00am 65' down :wink:
I'm aware that water absorbs red spectra more readily than blue and that the reef at 8am is going to be a bit dull looking without light, but it was actually 11:45am and later when I made my dive, plus I had my 1500 lumen dive light. I lit up one bright orange coral head on that dive, and that was about it.

I'm sure the trip would have been better for me if maybe one or two of my complaints hadn't been issues, but oh well. (e.g. better vis, hadn't been sick, had packed a 5mm wet suit rather than a dry suit, etc. :)
 
Just goes to show how two people can have completely different experiences on the same dive.
 

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