Texas Clipper Reefing Date

[mike_s]

Video of the Texas Clipper being towed out (on You Tube)




Video of the sinking on YouTube.




Helicopter view of the towing and sinking



All the sinking photo's can be found here.
Texas Clipper - Photos of the Texas Clipper being reefed

Random Sinking Photo's

 

[mike_s]

so... as we get past the sinking and onto diving...... why the heck are the charter rates to dive her so much?

from Texas Clipper - A Perfect place to come Scuba Diving, Wreck Style, in South Padre Island, Texas

TONS OF STEEL! $200.00 3 Tank All Day Trip. Includes Breakfast, Lunch, Soft drinks

2 dives on the Texas Clipper and one rig dive $200.00
Includes breakfast, lunch and soft drinks

2 dives on the Texas Clipper $175.00 Friday through Sunday​

This ship isn't that far offshore. Seems a little like price gouging for a new wreck.

I mean the Oriskany isn't but $150 bucks. the Speigal Grove can be dove for $80 and under for a two tank dive.

 

[MichaelBaranows]

Texas dive boats are very limited. This is all new to Texas. So things will have to get worked out and jsut see how many boats will be running in trips and the number of people that really want to even Dive the clipper. I have already heard complaining about trips to FL wrecks are just as close as diving the Clipper.

 

[TwoBitTxn]

Gourmet meals?

That's the Spree in the forground. It would have been neat to be on it.

 

[texdiveguy]

so... as we get past the sinking and onto diving...... why the heck are the charter rates to dive her so much?

from Texas Clipper - A Perfect place to come Scuba Diving, Wreck Style, in South Padre Island, Texas

TONS OF STEEL! $200.00 3 Tank All Day Trip. Includes Breakfast, Lunch, Soft drinks

2 dives on the Texas Clipper and one rig dive $200.00
Includes breakfast, lunch and soft drinks

2 dives on the Texas Clipper $175.00 Friday through Sunday​

This ship isn't that far offshore. Seems a little like price gouging for a new wreck.

I mean the Oriskany isn't but $150 bucks. the Speigal Grove can be dove for $80 and under for a two tank dive.

This is one of the few shops in the part of Texas and one of the few with dive charter service....I think over time additional competitors will set up dive charters to compete. This may drive the cost down some. For us in north Texas it is still a trek....from Arlington to the charter dock is approx 560 miles/9-10 hour drive. Reefing site is about 17-18 miles of shore.

 

[mike_s]

This is one of the few shops in the part of Texas and one of the few with dive charter service....I think over time additional competitors will set up dive charters to compete. This may drive the cost down some. For us in north Texas it is still a trek....from Arlington to the charter dock is approx 560 miles/9-10 hour drive. Reefing site is about 17-18 miles of shore.

I think the part in bold above explains the cost as direct as you can. They can charge that much, well... because they can. They apparently have no competition.

I didn't know the reefing site was 17-18 miles offshore. I was told by someone that it was about 6 miles offshore. (Maybe they were wrong it appears).

Still, paying that much to dive an old troop transport is kinda crazy. You can dive troop transports and Liberty ships all over the place.

Are there not any other "great wrecks" around there and this is the only thing going?

Diving the USS Oriskany isn't even that much and it's the only Aircraft Carrier in the western hemisphere that's diveable.

. I have already heard complaining about trips to FL wrecks are just as close as diving the Clipper.

That is true, but about the only complaint on "overpriced" is the fee ($150) to dive the Oriskany. It's 22 miles from P'Cola pass and longer from other ports. About every other site is of course much closer in. However, like I said above, it's an aircraft carrier (and not a troop transport).


Makes me wonder how much now they are going to pump up the price to dive the USAFS Vandenberg when they sink it off Key West.

 

[MichaelBaranows]

This is basically a first step to Texas reefing ships. If it works great TWPD will continue to reef ships but if nothing go happens from the sinking of "The Clipper" then they will not sink any more ships. So basically if people don't dive and fish "The Clipper" it might be the last ship we see sunk off the Texas coast.

 

[mike_s]

This is basically a first step to Texas reefing ships. If it works great TWPD will continue to reef ships but if nothing go happens from the sinking of "The Clipper" then they will not sink any more ships. So basically if people don't dive and fish "The Clipper" it might be the last ship we see sunk off the Texas coast.

Well i would say that fishermen outnumber divers 10 to 1 easily in most locations.

Divers also typically only go for 4 to 6 hour charters. Fishermen charter for 8 to 12 hour trips.

Don't let the lack of dive boats fool you. The Economic Impact of fishermen will usually trump the interests of divers any day.

 

[Narcd_dvr]

mike_s, I've asked the same question myself, 'why the insane prices' and I think they're charging what the market can bare, sadly. I mean, I dove California's Northern Channel island and for a 4 tank dives, it only cost $120. Hopefully, the prices will come down.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

When we dove the Oriskany the $150 didn't include gas/tanks.