What
to Bring
and
what to consider.
Being prepared for boat
diving and diving gulf are very important. First is having all
provisions for the trip which includes drinking water and gatoraid,
lunch, snacks, camera with film, bathing suit, wet suit to avoid
scraps by barnacles, towel, mask, fins, snorkle (Required on all
Dives), weight belt, weights (are not included), dive knife
(Required due to fishing line on rigs), regulator system, dive
computer, dive lights, buoyancy compensater, goodie bag, spear gun,
C-Card, Log Book, medical cards and information, large freezer bags
to bring home fish filets, batteries for dive lights, spare
mouthpiece, lift-bags and cave reels with line if diving the wrecks,
emergency medical kits if you have one, and anything else which
might fit into one medium size mesh bag to carry on the boat.
What
to bring but leave in car! Large gear bags, Ice Chest for keeping
the fish chilled for the ride home, change of clothes and large
bulky boxes. Remember there are six divers, plus the dive guide, and
captain on board. Storage is limited With
seven sets of gear on the deck after a dive with two large Ice Chest
which doubles for seating, can get in short supply if you do not put
your gear away after the dive.
What we do not allow: No
power heads or weapons of any kind except for the spear gun
unloaded. No Handguns are allowed. Fishing tackle and rods and reels
are on the boat. A small maintenance fee is charged for use of
equipment and for replacement of hooks, line and sinkers. Bait and
ice is furnished on the trips. If you want to bring fishing gear you
must notify us at time of booking to allow for other gear to be
removed from the boats to allow room.
How
to enter and exit
the boat
and what to consider.
Procedure
for entering the water off some boats needs to be understood and if
available one needs to practice it before getting 20 to 40 miles off
shore to develop one's technique. In being prepared in putting
equipment on in the water will avoid frustration and exhaustion
before and after a given dive. Due to the boats being
off-shore fishing the putting equipment on in the water has
been established to prevent damage to the boat from heavy equipment
and to prevent accidents of falling over due to a swell rocking the
boat. This procedure is not always used on our boats but could
be if conditions warrent.
To enter the water one needs scuba
unit ready to go into the water and air turned on. The BC device is
at least 50% inflated and lowered into the water as the diver enters
with all their mask, snorkel, fins, weight belt in place. There is a
tag line behind the boat which you need to grab to avoid drifting
away by the currents. Work slowly and calmly to get scuba system in
place. Rest if needed and then with your dive buddy work slowly on
the surface to the bow line and wait for the rest of the group to
descend. All other gear like gloves, camera's lights, spear guns and
accessory items will be handed down once you start your snorkel to
the descent area.
Exiting the water: Hand all
spear guns unloaded to the deck hand, then all other extra
equipment. Next hand up your weight belt both buddies working
together and at the same speed. Next remove the scuba unit and prop
the value up where the deck hand can lift it out of the water. Next
one at a time grasp the ladder or platform and one can remove there
fins one at a time and hand them up. Do not grasp the ladder until
the diver before has cleared the ladder. Be sure and hang onto the
tag line if waiting for other divers to exit. As a group, try to get
all cameras and accessories handed up along with weight belts before
removing gear. This prevents lost of gear Remember to work slowly
and calmly.
Planning
with time constraints
and what
to consider.
Planning
the overall timing of arrival at the boat, preparing the equipment,
entering the water for both
dives and returning to the docks is scheduled to allow the most
enjoyment out of diving offshore.
There
is a certain time schedule that must be followed to allow best for
all events on a trip:
1)
Boarding and departure: All scuba units are assembled and checked
out before departure.
6:30
depart
7:00 am
past the jetties
2) Travel time to rigs ranges from one and half hours to two and
half hours. No moving or assembly of equipment is allowed. 9:00 am
3) Thirty minute before docking to the rig divers make final
preparation, including mask around neck or in place, weight belt in
place, and air is turned on on scuba units. Crew secures rigging and
sets up tag lines. Then first two buddy teams in water on each side
of boat. 9:20 am
4) Divers begin descent 10:00 am for a multilevel dive of 30 minutes
bottom time and a 3 to 5 minute safety stop.
10:40 am
5) Surface interval of 2 hours and 30 minutes starts at
10:40
and ends at
1:10
with the divers starting the next dive. This timing is most
important with the decent not starting latter than
1:50 pm
. Those divers not in the water and starting the decent by
1:50
must alter the dive profiles to not more than 20 minutes of bottom.
6) End of second dive
2:30
and start boarding boat and stowing gear.
7) Boat departs Flat form at
3:15
at latest for a two and half hour boat ride back to dock.
8)
Arrive at dock
5:45 pm
start cleaning fish and unloading/cleaning boat. Finished about
7:00 pm
9) Eat dinner at restraint and start drive back to
Houston
. Depart boat area
8:00 pm.
Home about
9:30 to 10:30
depending on traffic
Now
you understand the importance of the schedule the boat operates
under, please abide with the schedule and help us keep to it!
Planning
with seasons, tides and weather
and what
to consider.
Diving
in the
Texas
Gulf
is a year round activity. Understanding the changes in the seasons
allows divers to realize that the water temperature hardly drops
below 68 degrees in the main diving range of 30 ft to 80 ft for rigs
that are 20 miles off shore. The Earth axes and the angle of the
moon does play a role in stronger currents, changes in the back flow
of the Mississippi River along the coast adding to a higher sediment
in the water. Then Comes the weather which the surface swells and
waves change according to the direction and strength of the air
movement. Planning a dive in the gulf is a process of considering
what is the best days for diving and what to watch out for.
Considerations:
1)
Direction of wind: Most wind from the southeast and southwest result
in calm seas. Winds from the North usually result in large choppy
swells, stronger the wind, higher the swells and waves start
appearing. During January through April the predominate winds are
from the North or Northwest, 65% of the days. This still means that
35% of those 4 months have good diving days. Watch the weather for
cold fronts and when they might arrive. Next winds from the south
are usually warmer air and push the colder water in close to shore.
That is why beach water temp is a good reflection of surface water
temperature out to about 10 miles. However if a cold blast of cold
air stays for 5 days or longer the off shore water temperature drops
till you get about 70 mile offshore and effects the long term
coldness of the water warming in the early summer. Some years in
March I have had surface water temp at 72 degrees and descending got
warmer after 35 feet then at 70 feet had a drastic change of water
temp to 56 degrees. Yet when
Houston
has mild winters with only short term of two or three days of winter
blast, I have found bottom temps as high as 72 degrees at 100 feet
on the same rig. Each year the water temperature is controlled by
winter blast and the duration they last. Next Watch the timing of
weather fronts to be prepared for rainy days and change in exposure
suits.
2)
Currents off-shore:
Texas
has the benefit of having the
Gulf Stream
pushing the water to the East. Where most of the Earths ocean
currents flow to the West. This means waters offshore are mostly
warm waters from the tropics. (Note: they carry all the zoo plankton
from the Tropics.) This pushes the waters along the
South Texas
region northward and keeps the warmer water flowing toward the
Northeast.
To
understand the currents at off-shore dive sites one must consider
the dominate current, wind direction and tidal affects on the water
pooled in the
Gulf of Mexico
. First there are usually three different currents flowing at
different speeds in the water column off-shore. (Dive Sites between
20 mile to 50 miles.) There is the surface current created by the
wind which usually is within the first 15 to 20 feet of the surface.
The days before and after a full moon will increase the currents in
this zone. The second zone of currents is usually mild except after
storms with lots of rain and high winds, near the full moon and the
spring tide change due to earths rotation on its axes. The last zone
is mostly effected by strong winds and the daily tidal amount of
water movement. For the best water visibility and least amount of
current in all three zones is when your in day 16 of the moons
rotation where the least amount of tidal water is exchanged, and
when the winds are out of the south-southeast for five days
straight. Planning for tidal currents is only an estimation of
best dive days and does not mean the wind will not throw a wrench in
the day of diving.
Spear
fishing and safety
and what
to consider.
Spear
fishing in the
Texas
Gulf
can give divers an adrenaline rush like no other type of hunting
can deliver. There are potential problems associated with spear
fishing like getting tangled in the cables, losing track of air
supply, bottom time, depth and shooting a fish which is to large
to handle and being dragged off. Spear fishing requires a buddy
team of one spear fisherman and an assistant to remind you of
depth, bottom time, air supply and is there to help if you get
tangled in fishing line or you get a bad shoot. Planning as a
buddy team will help prevent accidents from happening.
Cobia
(Ling) and Greater Amberjack
Spear
fishing on the Oil rigs and ship wrecks provide abundance of Red
Snapper and other large schools of Amber Jacks. Usually divers
will spear the 15 to 20 pound sizes and usually only spear one per
dive. There are larger Red Snappers which I have landed a few
weight more than 30 pounds. Usually the snapper stay in the lower
water column of 70 to 120 feet which ranges from 2 to 10 feet of
visibility. By hiding around the rig legs the snapper come very
close to see what the bubbles are about. Waiting for the larger
one takes a few minutes and the effects of the magnification of
everything by 25% larger can result in judging size a little
difficult. There will usually be about 20 or 30 snapper in your
field of vision and selecting the larger and getting the correct
shot is a skill which takes lots of practice. Once a fish is shoot
start ascending out of the muck layer and pulling the fish up only
after the fish clears the layer. Sometimes we have problems with
larger groupers swimming up an swallowing the fish off the spear
and by dragging the fish on the cable will allow you to observe in
the 70 foot visibly other predator that might decide your fish is
their next meal.
The
Amber Jacks are usually in large schools and come very close to
the divers, usually within two feet especially when one has been
speared. The schools will vary from 20 to 50 fish and will move
about in the 30 to 80 foot depth range. Visibility ranges from 50
feet to as much as 150 feet on an exceptional day. Most are around
the 30 pound range and you have to watch that you don't shoot a
large one or get a bad shot. It
is best that you stay next to one of the pipes where if you do get
a bad shot or shoot to large of a fish a diver can use the rig leg
as a brace to prevent being dragged around. I use a stainless
steel cable with a quick release where I can loose the spear,
cable and fish without losing the gun if I start being dragged.
Double check the the State length law because they keep changing.
Another
great fish to hunt is the Cobia also known as the Ling. This fish
finds divers curious creatures which they swim directly at divers
to check them out. To the diver this fish looks like a shark until
it turns sideways and will give a diver a startle if observing
only in front. They will sneak up to the side of a diver and are
usually loners or swimming along with two or three others. When
any fish is speared they will appear from not where and the next
spear fisherman can get a great shot once they turn sideways and
coast. This fish ranges from 10 pounds upwards to 70 pounds. The
largest one I have speared was 42 pounds and I shot the fish
through the gills and It dragged me from 30 feet to 70 feet within
seconds. then it relaxed and I swam it up to the boat and handed
up the spear gun where the real fight and splashing took place. It
was just like a hook and line battle, except there was a steel
cable with a spear in through the gill plates.
Some
of the good fish which are good for eating and learning to judge
size / aim a spear gun is the Spade fish which schools on the up
current side of the rig and swim in schools of 500 to 1000 moving
as if a marching band changing directions. They range in size from
8" to 24". They will dart when you shoot which is good
for developing the skill of leading a fish. These fish tend to be
hard to get the kill shot and will give a diver a good fight.
Some
of the other fish which are good eating usually swim along the rig
legs which can cause problems in getting a shot where you do not
ruin a spear tip or shaft. These fish are the small grouper type
of fish, Sheep head, Big Eye Snapper, V
On
any given day the water column can have three different currents and
visibility. Sometimes you can enter and visibility is 200 feet all
the way to the bottom. Then at other times visibility will be 20
feet in the first 20 feet then 40 feet visibility down to 70 feet
and 2 feet visibility to the bottom. Each presents which lens to use
or what to photograph. The ship wrecks have 30 to 40 feet of
visibility about 80% of the dives we do there. There has been one
time where we dove it and you could see the whole ship wreck of the
V.A.Fogg and that's the day the camera was left at home. Usually the
oil rigs which are dove are 35 to 40 miles off shore which results
in year round visibility of average 60 feet in the middle water
column. 
