Texas TrashFest --- Have any texas divers done this?

[ReefHound]

HI, new to the board and planning my first "getting wet". We (my mom and i)are heading to the flower gardens in Oct and thought the Trashfest would be a cool start. She is new to diving- one reef dive under her belt and Its been about 5 years for me (last dive in the fridgid waters of South Africa)- but I am still very novice myself. :05:

I just got back and was on the CHUM (www.chumclub.org) team with jdavis. It was a lot of fun. It's not your typical dive since the depth is 0 to 15 feet and you are working. But it allowed you to experience and work on new things, like swimming in very strong current.

The entry fee is $100 per team of 8, you get a great dinner and unlimited free beer! Plus lots of prizes are given away. Some people won trips to Utila and Flower Garden trips.

That said, I would encourage you to cancel your FG trip as it is often debated if someone with 20 dives is ready for it. The depths are generally 80' or more, there may be current, waves can be to 5', and you are over 100 miles from shore. They aren't going anywhere. Get wet some more, do some easy Caribbean reef dives, earn your AOW, then you'll be better prepared to enjoy it safely.

 

[Kaiser442]

I got back from the New Braunfels trashfest yesterday afternoon... had a nice time.

The early part of the day wasn't the greatest because we got a crappy section of the river - 5 feet deep, rediculously strong current, very little trash - but we did what we could. I ended up making a little bit of upriver progress by pulling myself hand over hand along the rocks on the bottom.

We broke for lunch and then went back for a fun dive just above the dam. That was a whole lot better... about 10' deep, not as much current, lots of fish and interesting plants etc.

On going to the flower gardens - I'd do it, but be careful and definitely group up with an experienced divemaster.

My first dives after getting my certification (about 2 weeks after ) were in Cozumel. That was FANTASTIC.

Just be very careful to empty your BCD when you start coming up from a deep dive (well, not EMPTY - but err on the side of letting out too much rather than too little). The whole air expansion/runaway ascent thing is something that they tell you about - but it doesn't really sink in until you've experienced it. Dive #7 for me (including cert dives) was Palancar Bricks in Cozumel at 90 feet. The air really expands a TON when you're coming up from that far down.

 

[trixiegirl1970]

I got back from the New Braunfels trashfest yesterday afternoon... had a nice time.

The early part of the day wasn't the greatest because we got a crappy section of the river - 5 feet deep, rediculously strong current, very little trash - but we did what we could. I ended up making a little bit of upriver progress by pulling myself hand over hand along the rocks on the bottom.

We broke for lunch and then went back for a fun dive just above the dam. That was a whole lot better... about 10' deep, not as much current, lots of fish and interesting plants etc.

On going to the flower gardens - I'd do it, but be careful and definitely group up with an experienced divemaster.

My first dives after getting my certification (about 2 weeks after ) were in Cozumel. That was FANTASTIC.

Just be very careful to empty your BCD when you start coming up from a deep dive (well, not EMPTY - but err on the side of letting out too much rather than too little). The whole air expansion/runaway ascent thing is something that they tell you about - but it doesn't really sink in until you've experienced it. Dive #7 for me (including cert dives) was Palancar Bricks in Cozumel at 90 feet. The air really expands a TON when you're coming up from that far down.

Yeah, I had a blast at Trashfest... What group were you? I was in 1 and we rocked! The table with all the winners... hehehe.. except me. But it was fun. My first dives were Cozumel also... so I have done deep dives my only concern was the current, but I feel confident (but not overly) now. I am going to do another pool dive this weekend and then Blue Lagoon next weekend, then it will be trip weekend. So I am pretty comfortable doing the dive. But I do prefer to stick near the guide, I am not a strayer. Thanks for the advice everyone! It is greatly appreciated.

 

[scubatexastony]

Bren and I participated in the clean up here in Curacao at Pier Baai reef with the locals weekend before last. The literature mentioned it started in our wonderful state years ago, with far reaching and great results! You can see some photos at http://www.the-dive-bus.com/index.p...7 September 05&option=com_mambospgm&Itemid=10

 

[Kaiser442]

Yeah, I had a blast at Trashfest... What group were you? I was in 1 and we rocked! The table with all the winners... hehehe.. except me.

I was in group 10 at the Schlitterbahn steps - students and friends of students from SFA (I was one of the friends). We tried - but we hardly collected anything. I got about 1/4 of a bag of trash and an old tire. I gave the tire to the people next to us so I wouldn't have to deal with lugging it up to the park and I threw my trash in the bin without having it weighed etc - there was no point since there was no chance of winning anything (but that's fine... I didn't go there to win - just to help clean up and have fun doing it).

A couple from our group went to the dinner/awards thing, but I skipped it (I was really tired and my friend had a very irritated eye and needed to rinse it out and rest).

 

[Kaiser442]

Bren and I participated in the clean up here in Curacao at Pier Baai reef with the locals weekend before last. The literature mentioned it started in our wonderful state years ago, with far reaching and great results! You can see some photos at http://www.the-dive-bus.com/index.p...7 September 05&option=com_mambospgm&Itemid=10

Oh man... now THAT looks like a good time!!!

 

[ReefHound]

I was in group 10 at the Schlitterbahn steps - students and friends of students from SFA (I was one of the friends). We tried - but we hardly collected anything. I got about 1/4 of a bag of trash and an old tire. I gave the tire to the people next to us so I wouldn't have to deal with lugging it up to the park and I threw my trash in the bin without having it weighed etc - there was no point since there was no chance of winning anything (but that's fine... I didn't go there to win - just to help clean up and have fun doing it).

A couple from our group went to the dinner/awards thing, but I skipped it (I was really tired and my friend had a very irritated eye and needed to rinse it out and rest).

Hey, you gave that tire to me! It actually had good tread but the sidewall had been slashed. We pulled out 350 pounds which we thought was pretty darn good for the area we had, but not nearly enough to win anything. Although we had a guy caught by the current and sent down a chute, losing a full bag in the process.

We screwed up strategically and entered only aggregate weight. I cringed when someone got 3rd in "shoes and sunglasses" category with 4 as I had pulled out at least 5 shoes myself. But like you, we were there to have a good time rather than score on prizes.

The dinner was the best part of it. Great food, free beer, lots of laughs.