I went rig diving yesterday with Out To Sea Adventures. Okay, actually I was a little seasick but not puking. I took my Dramamine the day before. 
This was a first rig dive for me. My husband Chris had been out on the rigs several years ago. We nabbed Kenny from OHS also and drug him along. He had a brand new spearfishing rig he was dying to try out, so it didnt take too much arm twisting to convince him to come along. We left at 1 AM Sunday morning. I had a good 5 hour nap before taking off so I volunteered for the first driving shift while the boys slept. After stopping for breakfast we reached the dock in Port Aransas at 6:30 AM to load the boat, The Orian.
It took a couple hours to get to Rig #1. The dolphins were out and feeling playful; they chased the boat for a good hour! The dolphins fell back a ways offshore and we kept going out to the blue. Oh, boy! were we excited to get in the water! Once we were at the rig, Chris and I jumped in and started free swimming to the rig before the DM even had the downline tied off. Wow, the current was a surprise! Just getting to the rig structure was exhausting. Once inside the rig structure, we kept descending to try to find a current-free depth. Unfortunately, the current-free zone was at 90+ and we are on air for a 3 tank trip! So we spent some deep time on dive #1. When we were running out of NDL we started coming back up. I noticed all the other divers who were in the current were holding onto the rig structure; Ive been raised on the motto No Touching the Reef! Well, finally, I just had no choice because the current was slamming me into the rig legs so I had to Touch The Reef! :11: Later I learned that the growth on rigs is such fast-growing stuff that its considered OK to touch.
So, back to the diving.
On dive #1 we had the luck to see 2 sharks! The first one was a good 50+ feet below us so species was hard to make out. Looked to be a pretty big one, though. The second shark was seen while on the drift line just as we were headed back to the boat only 20 feet or less below us. He was clearly a blacktip shark and probably 12-14 feet long. NICE! Viz was a good hundred feet, temps 70s 80 all the way down to 100. Couldnt see the sea floor but I was told it was around 160.
On dive #2 the NDL was chasing us up so we had a much shallower and shorter dive. The current was a little less at this rig but it was still tiring to swim against. I learned that my lake diving is not nearly as good a cardio workout as those ocean divers get! I told the ocean-diver guys that if I kicked that hard in the lake Id run head first into a rock for sure! On this dive we were able to find the leeward side of the rig and did some exploring. The fish were schooling, circling the rig. There were thousands of fry, silvery glittering swirls of fish. I found a group of half-inch Sergent Majors (maybe these were Sergent Minors!) sporting brilliant yellow and black. Still great viz, warm temps, and one fisherman speared a 5 foot barracuda right in front of me! Eeek! I didnt want to get in that cudas way as he was thrashing on the line!
On dive #3 the current was the worst. It was ripping! Wed had to come back towards shore due to some other issues and the viz was probably down to 20-30 feet. Thats a little nerve racking, diving in 20 foot viz with spearfishermen in the water. This dive we deployed our john lines and hooked off to the rig. Laying back and floating while the current rips past is great! Now I got a chance to really closely examine the critters on the structure. There were a million barnacles and all the little feathery creatures were floating in the current. I watched as they would snap closed on a piece of matter, swallow it, and open its little fingers again. There were lots of clams, too. There were little blennies all over; they had little volcano-like structures they were living in. They had nubby antenna and huge comical eyes. They were very protective of their little homes and would nip at your fingers! I focused on the water and could see all the miniscule life; there were jellies and hydroid strings, teensy egg sacs carrying unknown fetuses, floating crustaceans, and more!
All told, we had some great dives, met a lot of very good divers, and enjoyed The Orian. Kenny caught lots of fish! We got back in at 1 AM Monday morning exactly 24 hours after we had left. I slept 4 hours last night; Im brain dead! But it was totally worth it!
Now, where's that coffee?
This was a first rig dive for me. My husband Chris had been out on the rigs several years ago. We nabbed Kenny from OHS also and drug him along. He had a brand new spearfishing rig he was dying to try out, so it didnt take too much arm twisting to convince him to come along. We left at 1 AM Sunday morning. I had a good 5 hour nap before taking off so I volunteered for the first driving shift while the boys slept. After stopping for breakfast we reached the dock in Port Aransas at 6:30 AM to load the boat, The Orian.
It took a couple hours to get to Rig #1. The dolphins were out and feeling playful; they chased the boat for a good hour! The dolphins fell back a ways offshore and we kept going out to the blue. Oh, boy! were we excited to get in the water! Once we were at the rig, Chris and I jumped in and started free swimming to the rig before the DM even had the downline tied off. Wow, the current was a surprise! Just getting to the rig structure was exhausting. Once inside the rig structure, we kept descending to try to find a current-free depth. Unfortunately, the current-free zone was at 90+ and we are on air for a 3 tank trip! So we spent some deep time on dive #1. When we were running out of NDL we started coming back up. I noticed all the other divers who were in the current were holding onto the rig structure; Ive been raised on the motto No Touching the Reef! Well, finally, I just had no choice because the current was slamming me into the rig legs so I had to Touch The Reef! :11: Later I learned that the growth on rigs is such fast-growing stuff that its considered OK to touch.
So, back to the diving.
On dive #1 we had the luck to see 2 sharks! The first one was a good 50+ feet below us so species was hard to make out. Looked to be a pretty big one, though. The second shark was seen while on the drift line just as we were headed back to the boat only 20 feet or less below us. He was clearly a blacktip shark and probably 12-14 feet long. NICE! Viz was a good hundred feet, temps 70s 80 all the way down to 100. Couldnt see the sea floor but I was told it was around 160. On dive #2 the NDL was chasing us up so we had a much shallower and shorter dive. The current was a little less at this rig but it was still tiring to swim against. I learned that my lake diving is not nearly as good a cardio workout as those ocean divers get! I told the ocean-diver guys that if I kicked that hard in the lake Id run head first into a rock for sure! On this dive we were able to find the leeward side of the rig and did some exploring. The fish were schooling, circling the rig. There were thousands of fry, silvery glittering swirls of fish. I found a group of half-inch Sergent Majors (maybe these were Sergent Minors!) sporting brilliant yellow and black. Still great viz, warm temps, and one fisherman speared a 5 foot barracuda right in front of me! Eeek! I didnt want to get in that cudas way as he was thrashing on the line!
On dive #3 the current was the worst. It was ripping! Wed had to come back towards shore due to some other issues and the viz was probably down to 20-30 feet. Thats a little nerve racking, diving in 20 foot viz with spearfishermen in the water. This dive we deployed our john lines and hooked off to the rig. Laying back and floating while the current rips past is great! Now I got a chance to really closely examine the critters on the structure. There were a million barnacles and all the little feathery creatures were floating in the current. I watched as they would snap closed on a piece of matter, swallow it, and open its little fingers again. There were lots of clams, too. There were little blennies all over; they had little volcano-like structures they were living in. They had nubby antenna and huge comical eyes. They were very protective of their little homes and would nip at your fingers! I focused on the water and could see all the miniscule life; there were jellies and hydroid strings, teensy egg sacs carrying unknown fetuses, floating crustaceans, and more!
All told, we had some great dives, met a lot of very good divers, and enjoyed The Orian. Kenny caught lots of fish! We got back in at 1 AM Monday morning exactly 24 hours after we had left. I slept 4 hours last night; Im brain dead! But it was totally worth it!
Now, where's that coffee?
