Texas Diving

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DivinDave - 22 Jun 2007 13:03 GMT

I'm living in Saudi Arabia (which has some of the owrlds best diving
on the west coast!), and going home to TX in July for vacation. Any
good ideas for salt or fresh water dives? I never dove in TX but I
know the water along the coast is pretty coffee-like, at least from
Galveston to Corpus. If anyone is coming to Saudi (god help you!) I
can put you onto the best places to stay in Jeddah for diving.

Cheers!
David

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Buhda - 22 Jun 2007 14:17 GMT

Mind you I have never done these dives...just going on things I've heard.

In West TX there is Balmorhea State Park. It is spring fed and 1.73 acres
and keeps a 72-76 F temp year round. Supposedly the water is crystal clear
(80-100' vis) but it is only about 25' deep. It's home to two protected
species.

There are a few operations that take trips out to the Flower Gardens NMS
which are out in the middle of the Gulf. Last time I looked at the
operations I could find online I wasn't impressed with the boats though. I
just checked and these guys seem to have nice boats
http://www.gulf-diving.com/index.html .

There is also The Blue Lagoon near Huntsville TX....but I wouldn't recoomend
it. It's and old limestone quarry that has a few planes/busses sunk in it
but many of the local dive shops use it as a certification place and soon as
someone hits the bottom Vis goes to sh.t. There is also no life in it.

I've heard of people diving Lake Travis but I don't know what kind of vis
you would have <20' I would suspect.

This site might help you. It has a list of the sites I mentions plus A LOT
more.

http://www.texasdiver.com/tdiver.pl?sites.index

> I'm living in Saudi Arabia (which has some of the owrlds best diving
> on the west coast!), and going home to TX in July for vacation. Any
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> Cheers!
> David

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Jer - 22 Jun 2007 14:50 GMT

> Mind you I have never done these dives...just going on things I've heard.
>
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> just checked and these guys seem to have nice boats
> http://www.gulf-diving.com/index.html .

I've done Flower Gardens trips on both these boats, and neither are
luxury class. Both are converted crew boats once used to service the
oil platform crews before being gutted and refitted for diving. Mostly
4-person bunk rooms, two heads, hi-carbo galley dining, onboard nitrox,
and sticklers for safety protocols. After my first trip, I started
packing an extra light blanket and inflatable pillow for my bunk. Any
diver not nitrox cert'd will be a passenger at least one dive a day.
These boats birth in Freeport, TX, and some divers will arrange
overnight accom. nearby to fit their schedule. The boats provide nitrox
tanks only, all other gear is the diver's responsibility, including
weights. I recommend a 3-mil full wet suit, and there are lots of
critters about.

gulf-diving.com don't deal with individual dive reservations, they
contract this to a number of dive shops (mostly in Texas?), I always
booked through Tom's Dive and Swim in Austin and have been satisfied
with their op.

http://www.tomsscuba.com/dives/flowergardens.html

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jer
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Dillon Pyron - 01 Jul 2007 20:25 GMT

>> Mind you I have never done these dives...just going on things I've heard.
>>
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
>
>http://www.tomsscuba.com/dives/flowergardens.html

Almost every shop in town has at least one trip. Same applies to
Houston, SA, etc. The dive shop in Tyler has 4 or 5 a year.

You can also book individually. But finding space can be a problem
because the shops usually book up all the space. Book 13 spaces, get
the 14th free.

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dillon

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Jer - 01 Jul 2007 21:45 GMT

>>> Mind you I have never done these dives...just going on things I've heard.
>>>
[quoted text clipped - 35 lines]
> because the shops usually book up all the space. Book 13 spaces, get
> the 14th free.

Interesting... when I attempted to individually book my space with
gulfdiving.com, they referred me to the following...

"We wholesale our charters to dive shops. Check out our calendar for
trip dates and store info--then give your favorite dive shop a call to
book your trip to the Flower Gardens."

IOW, they rejected my attempt, hence my trip was booked through a local
shop in Austin.

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jer
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Dillon Pyron - 05 Jul 2007 03:08 GMT

>>>> Mind you I have never done these dives...just going on things I've heard.
>>>>
[quoted text clipped - 42 lines]
>trip dates and store info--then give your favorite dive shop a call to
>book your trip to the Flower Gardens."

Hmm, I guess it's changed in the last few years. I haven't gone out
on them in 5 or 6 years now. And then it's usually with Oak Hill
Scuba, as the "trip leader". WTF that means.

>IOW, they rejected my attempt, hence my trip was booked through a local
>shop in Austin.

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dillon

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