Proposed Ship Reef off Galveston Texas
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Bill Parker
Contributor
It would be interesting to see the effect of making something similar to Panama City
Beach off the coast of Texas somewhere that is central to the dense San Antonio-
DFW-Houston population centers. Freeport perhaps. Even in the winter the vis was
pretty good only 30 miles off of Freeport. Not one wreck but 10-20 closely grouped
together where a ship with similar economics of the M/V Fling could do 2-3 day trips
and hit many different wrecks in the process. They say if you build it they will come.
---------- Post added April 13th, 2014 at 02:35 PM ----------
I may be out of the loop but I'm not aware of that many charters that make it
out for technical dives in the Gulf. Is it not enough interested and technical
trained divers or not enough attractions? If there was enough attractions and
enough divers to create a critical mass that would fill boats for technical trips
on a regular basis I'd get the training. It's a chicken in the egg problem
perhaps.
Beach off the coast of Texas somewhere that is central to the dense San Antonio-
DFW-Houston population centers. Freeport perhaps. Even in the winter the vis was
pretty good only 30 miles off of Freeport. Not one wreck but 10-20 closely grouped
together where a ship with similar economics of the M/V Fling could do 2-3 day trips
and hit many different wrecks in the process. They say if you build it they will come.
---------- Post added April 13th, 2014 at 02:35 PM ----------
I may be out of the loop but I'm not aware of that many charters that make it
out for technical dives in the Gulf. Is it not enough interested and technical
trained divers or not enough attractions? If there was enough attractions and
enough divers to create a critical mass that would fill boats for technical trips
on a regular basis I'd get the training. It's a chicken in the egg problem
perhaps.
How many structures do you want? There are already about 140 reefed rigs in depths from 85' to over 400' depth, a good portion of which have never been seen since reefing. We're currently in negotiations for another 20 or so rigs. The Texas Artificial Reef Program is an untaped goldmine for technical divers. The issue isn't the lack of structure, it's getting the word out to tech divers and getting enough of them willing to spend the money to put together a charter. Which is the same problem with all of Texas offshore diving opportunities...
Here's a map of the reef sites:
TPWD Artificial Reefs Interactive Mapping
-Chris
tripntx
Contributor
Adding coordinates for Stetson Bank into above linked interactive map makes it easy to see just how close a lot of artificial reefs are to Stetson. This already looks like a good tech trip; adding a large vessel only makes it better.
Longitude 94.28
Latitude 28.15
Longitude 94.28
Latitude 28.15
Let's hit them Ken.
tripntx
Contributor
Which wrecks, where can information be found about them?
---------- Post added April 15th, 2014 at 09:14 PM ----------
---------- Post added April 15th, 2014 at 09:15 PM ----------
Which wrecks, where can information be found about them?
---------- Post added April 15th, 2014 at 09:14 PM ----------
I'm ready
---------- Post added April 15th, 2014 at 09:15 PM ----------
Which wrecks, where can information be found about them?
tripntx
Contributor
Thank you Randy. Here's what I could find out about Zapata Topper III:
The TOPPER III, a 300 ft. water depth capability Marathon LeTourneau built mobile offshore jack-up drilling unit, was drilling an exploratory well on March 19, 1975 at a 196 ft. water depth location at an OCS site located 89 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas (Figure 1). When an undetected and unexpectedly shallow gas zone was drilled into, an uncontrollable blowout was experienced which subsequently eroded away the sea floor foundation around the two stern legs of the three legged jack-up unit. This massive erosion of the sea bed as a result of high velocity unwelling and gas flow caused critical subsidence of the two stern legs of the TOPPER III in a manner that eventually capsized the entire upper hull of the drilling unit and caused the unit to sink within only 12 hours after the blow-out started. The entire crew of the TOPPER III was safely evacuated from the rig after all possible efforts to control the exploratory well blowout failed and before the rig capsized and sank.
During the summer of 1977, the wreckage of the ZAPATA TOPPER III was dismantled down to a water depth of 85 ft. to provide safe navigation for marine craft transit in the vicinity of the wreck. The TOPPER III capsized in March 1975 in a blow-out while standing on location in 196 ft. of water. This paper describes (1) the events that resulted in the capsizing, (2) the process of obtaining governmental approvals for a debris clearance operation and (3) the details of the clearance operation conducted in August-September 1977. This operation involved the use of explosive cutting charges and was accomplished by the close cooperation and employment of the combined technical capabilities of Zapata Off-Shore Company, Oceaneering International, Inc., Murphy Pacific Marine Salvage and Hancock Industries. The descriptions of the diving techniques and explosive cutting charges employed in the operation can serve as a reference for future clearance, debris removal or salvage operations of other drilling rigs or marine craft which suffer severe casualties in accident situations. The paper describes the types of explosives and shape forms used in cutting typical drilling rig structures. The paper also describes the use of underwater burning techniques used on structural stiffness, piping, electrical cableways and other features of the wreck that were not cut with explosives. The method used to tap and remove the oil from the drilling rigs fuel tanks is described in the paper to serve as a model in similar situations as a means to remove oil from an underwater wreck with no spillage of oil or marine pollution. https://www.onepetro.org/conference-paper/OTC-3281-MS
---------- Post added April 16th, 2014 at 07:23 PM ----------
Besides legs/jackposts, does anything else remain?
---------- Post added April 16th, 2014 at 08:12 PM ----------
I have 11 friends (Brazosport area) who have started diving doubles and have obtained tri-mix certs within the last 5 or less years ago; and three acquaintances in the Houston area who tech dive. Last Sep I was trained to dive my Prism II, and I have three friends local who dive rebreathers (another Prism 2, original SM Prism Topaz, Meg Cobis), plus one rebreather diver on the far east side of Houston. Two of my friends plan to purchase a rebreather (one of whom will purchase by the end of this year).
Plenty of interest in the Houston area for tech and numerous divers already diving tech. Problem is, not many operators want to take several sets of doubles or several rebreathers offshore. Last Aug 2013 I spent four days tech diving doubles on Eagle, Dunn, Bibb, Spiegal Grove, and Vandenberg from the MV Spree with five other tech divers from this area. I'm taking Normoxic CCR course in June 2014, and have paid in full for my trip aboard the MV Spree to Normoxic dive the Dry Tortugas in Aug 2014, along with two other rebreather divers from this area. The Fling has one rebreather trip scheduled to the Flower Gardens and Stetson Bank this year, it's the last weekend of Oct 2014, and I have my reservation to be aboard. It would be nice to go offshore locally instead of always having to travel to Key West or Pompano Beach to dive my Prism 2. Just put me in decent water and I'll be content with my Nauticam housed Olympus OMD-EM5.
---------- Post added April 16th, 2014 at 08:18 PM ----------
I seems we just need operators who aren't afraid of letting tech divers and rebreather divers (who will enter deco) aboard their vessels and have room for our gear; we need enough of us (tech/rebreather) willing to pay for trips offshore.
diver 85
Contributor
tripntx.....good luck on the " the last weekend of Oct 2014" trip----GoM can be a bear when cold fronts start blowing in, usually it wins...
tripntx
Contributor
Yea, I would have preferred a date much sooner, but that's the weekend that was offered to us. Heck, I would go next weekend if the Fling would allow RB on recreational charters like the Spree does. I could make 45-60 minute dives to 100' on Saturday without entering deco.
I was aboard the Truk Odyssey in Feb 2014 during the 70th Anniversary of Operation Hailstone. 14 recreational divers, one tech diver, and myself (the only rebreather diver) spent 6 days diving the wrecks. Pool opened at 0730 and told to be aboard by 12:30 for lunch. Pool opened again 13:30 and told to be aboard by dark (approximately 18:00 hrs). The first night aboard the Odysessy, recreational divers were told "DECO is NOT a four letter dirty word"; please be aware of air consumption and monitor your computer to know how much deco obligation you have accumulated. All the recreational divers started entering deco on every dive, and would simply follow their computers during ascent. Nobody looked for solo cards, it was explained to us that we were adults, and would be treated as adults, unless we displayed foolish behavior below, which would cause you to be paired up. The only three things they were strict on was: use a computer, preferably two, if primary fails you must wait 24 hrs to start diving again unless you have been diving with a backup computer all week which has your N2 loading in it; don't skip deco obligations. Here's dive logs for two days from Feb trip: 2/18/14 dove Fumitzuki to 114' for 39 minutes, Shinkoku Maru to 96' for 60 minutes, Shinkoku Maru to 125' for 53 minutes, Shinkoku Maru to 107' for 30 minutes; 2/19/14 dove I-169 sub to 139' for 27 minutes, Rio de Janeiro Maru to 118' for 55 minutes, Rio de Janeiro Maru to 119' for 53 minutes, and Sankisan Maru to 78' for 34 minutes. I was using normal air in my diluent tank, never had to complete more than 5 minutes hang time in the 15-30' depth on line, which to me is a safety stop.
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