Seven and One-half Fathom Reef

[ScubaTexan]

Has anyone here ever dived Seven and One-half Fathom Reef, off South Padre Island? Are there boat charters to go out there. What were your impressions? Was it overrated/underrated? Are the conditions extremely rough?

I did a search, but I didn't find many results...

 

[archman]

All I have is this lousy thread from 3 years ago.

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=43145&highlight=7+fathom+reef

 

[daniel f aleman]

I've dived there several times; best in the near-coastal area for fish. The reef gets a lot of study from coastal university PhD. canidates.

http://www.texasdiver.com/tdiver.pl?sites.south_padre.fathom_reef

http://www.dtmag.com/dive-usa/SouthPadreIslandTX.html

 

[archman]

I didn't think any science weenies had seriously visited the place since the 1980's. Nobody sure as heck went out there in the late '90's. If they did, there were supposed to take me along with them. If you remember any recent visiting scientists' names Dan, could you forward them to me?

 

[redacted]

I believe the Spree made a "scientific" trip there this past September.

 

[daniel f aleman]

archman,

I may have over-stated it a bit by using the term "a lot". It's just that the reef is on the list of places to repeat visit over the years by ever the new student. There's nothing really special about it to study, but it is a reef, and accessible. I've Divemastered there twice for students, but not recently.

 

[Wookie]

I took the Spree there for Dr. Wes Tunnel of Harte Research Institute, A&M Corpus. Most folks were impressed with the large number of octopi (8-12 sighted per dive). People were not impressed with the visibility.

 

[archman]

Divewookie, if you have the time, I'm sure a lot of us would like to hear a detailed report on the site, as you've recently seen it.

 

[Foo]

I took the Spree there for Dr. Wes Tunnel of Harte Research Institute, A&M Corpus.

Divewookie, when was this? Recently?

Most folks were impressed with the large number of octopi (8-12 sighted per dive). People were not impressed with the visibility.

I read the links that df aleman posted, and if I read correctly, 25' was considered poor vis on this dive. Surely these unimpressed and evidently spoiled individuals have never enjoyed Texas braille diving? I'm way interested in this dive, knowing we would have a whopping 25' of vis. Thanks for getting this started, Ken- I didn't know we had any reef diving that close to the shore.

Of course, after driving to Padre from my part of Texas, we could have made it to Destin... hmm. Perhaps I will use this logic on my marital unit.

 

[Foo]

Divewookie, if you have the time, I'm sure a lot of us would like to hear a detailed report on the site, as you've recently seen it.

Agreed, please tell us more! Thanks,