Texas getting serious about artificial reef?

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Could not find a link on the site, but found this video. Should be lots of great footage available from all the angles shown. Looks like a fun dive for this summer!


I sent a email to MV fling to see when they will be offering trips and what sites would/could be included into a Kraken trip. I'll post the reply here.

Jay
 
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I received this response this morning. Looks like a trip to Galveston/Freeport is in my future. I would love to dive the Kraken before it is covered in reef-y stuff. See y'all there! If anyone knows other operators going out, please post. A Kraken/Stetson/rig trip would be pretty damn nice.

Jay

Jay,

We are working on a plan right now. I know for sure that we will be doing
dives on the Kraken on the 3 day trips this summer. We are trying to figure
out the route for the two day trips.

We are also looking at doing a Stetson/Wreck trip in the near future. We
really not sure when the first trip will be but it will be posted on the
website and our facebook page.

If you have any more questions, please let me know.

Sharon Cain
Fling Charters, Inc
1203 N. Avenue J
Freeport, Texas 77541
979-233-4445
 
That's good news. Thanks for checking up on it and sharing it.
 
Hrm. I assume the Fling still bans CCR and has their 100 foot rule for second dives in place, yes? Looks like it would be a great site for a light technical/wreck trip.
 
Looks like Fling's first trip to the Kraken will be in mid April, I think the 15th and 16th. We leave for Cozumel on the 16th so I'm out. Hope some of y'all can go and tell us about it.

Jay
 
Hrm. I assume the Fling still bans CCR and has their 100 foot rule for second dives in place, yes? Looks like it would be a great site for a light technical/wreck trip.
It would make for an excellent light tech trip. I designed it that way!

The top three floors are pretty open and are very accessible to recreational divers. The bridge is basically a glorified swim through, and each floor deeper than that gets progressively more enclosed. If you go deeper than 100' in the house, it's getting into run-lines type penetration and if you go toward the stern from the engine room, you certainly want to run lines. Although the giant holes they had to cut to sink it opened it up a bit.

On the bow there is the bosons hold that is semi enclosed but it is just a big-ish triangular shaped room. Between that and the hold there is a small companionway that runs straight down from the deck and has a small hallway leading off to the side. Both the companionway and the hallway dump you into the main hold so not really a navigation challenge, but it is pretty tight if you are into that sort of thing.

When we did the clearance dive, we had scooters to get us around, but had a pretty long checklist of things to do (collect cameras, check depths, video any damage, check the list of the ship, etc). Even with the scooters we had about a 45 minute bottom time, I never got deeper than 120. Total run time was about 70 minutes. We certainly didn't get a chance to explore much, and this could easily be a three dive series to even see the entirety of the ship without doing much penetration.

I know Tom Andersen from Island Divers Galveston (may he Rest In Hawaii) tried to put together a tech trip on the Fling a few years ago and was successful at getting them to go along with it. It was going to be half OC tech and half CCR. He wanted to keep things simple with gas mixes and dive planning so we would be invited back. The OC divers had a different outlook and were taking it as their one and only time to go, so things got complicated quickly. Tom wisely pulled the plug on the trip. The Artificial Reef Program has been running tech dives off the Fling for the past 4 years on our research cruises, with both Tom and myself on CCR at some point or another. Since we have demonstrated that we are not complete morons in the water, I think they are more open to a tech trip than in the past, but a mixed trip (non-deco and deco together) probably won't ever happen. If we can get a group together, they would probably run one. It'll probably also cost twice as much as a regular trip since there will only be half the divers.

There are tons of dive sites that are perfect for light tech out there. I know because I've been doing them for the past 4 years. It's just a matter of getting the divers together to go dive them.

-Chris
 
It would make for an excellent light tech trip. I designed it that way!

I know Tom Andersen from Island Divers Galveston (may he Rest In Hawaii) tried to put together a tech trip on the Fling a few years ago and was successful at getting them to go along with it. It was going to be half OC tech and half CCR. He wanted to keep things simple with gas mixes and dive planning so we would be invited back. The OC divers had a different outlook and were taking it as their one and only time to go, so things got complicated quickly. Tom wisely pulled the plug on the trip. The Artificial Reef Program has been running tech dives off the Fling for the past 4 years on our research cruises, with both Tom and myself on CCR at some point or another. Since we have demonstrated that we are not complete morons in the water, I think they are more open to a tech trip than in the past, but a mixed trip (non-deco and deco together) probably won't ever happen. If we can get a group together, they would probably run one. It'll probably also cost twice as much as a regular trip since there will only be half the divers.

There are tons of dive sites that are perfect for light tech out there. I know because I've been doing them for the past 4 years. It's just a matter of getting the divers together to go dive them.

-Chris

I was booked for that trip through Tom, was really looking forward to diving my Prism2 from the Fling, and hated that the trip had to be canceled. I continue to keep my hopes up that one of these days I can make the short drive from Angleton to Freeport for a weekend of CCR diving from the Fling. It's hard living so close to the coast with a CCR in the hobby room and a Haskell booster pump in the garage but no way to get out to the FGB on a live-aboard vessel.
 
I was booked for that trip through Tom, was really looking forward to diving my Prism2 from the Fling, and hated that the trip had to be canceled. I continue to keep my hopes up that one of these days I can make the short drive from Angleton to Freeport for a weekend of CCR diving from the Fling. It's hard living so close to the coast with a CCR in the hobby room and a Haskell booster pump in the garage but no way to get out to the FGB on a live-aboard vessel.

You know there is a CCR Texas Facebook group? It was just started a few weeks ago by some divers at TAMUG. There are at least three CCR divers over there now, me and I hope our field tech will be on CCR in the not too distant future as well.

I'll send you a PM with the group info. I'm not an admin on there so I don't know what the joining policies are.

-Chris
 
I'd love to get involved on a tech trip on the Fling...tell me more. I called and inquired once, and was told that it would be double the cost of a normal trip, since tech divers take up twice as much space as a rec diver. It felt a bit rich for my blood.
 
I was booked for that trip through Tom, was really looking forward to diving my Prism2 from the Fling, and hated that the trip had to be canceled. I continue to keep my hopes up that one of these days I can make the short drive from Angleton to Freeport for a weekend of CCR diving from the Fling. It's hard living so close to the coast with a CCR in the hobby room and a Haskell booster pump in the garage but no way to get out to the FGB on a live-aboard vessel.
Hold your breath.
 
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