Diving Tips

The Flower Garden Banks is one of the United States' most popular dive destinations, voted by the readers of Rodale's Scuba Diving Magazine to have the best visibility, best advanced diving, top five best value, top five best fish life, top five healthiest marine environment, and was in the top five for best destination overall of any dive site in North America for 1999.

The motor vessels M/V Fling and M/V Spree are the only full-service, live-aboard dive vessels providing year-round service to the Flower Gardens. Both vessels operate out of Freeport, Texas (100 miles south of Houston), and are scheduled to make the six-hour trip to the Flower Gardens from February through November. The M/V Fling was voted by Rodale's Scuba Diving Magazine readers as one of the top ten live-aboard dive boats in the world for 1999.

Captain Gary Rinn would love to welcome you aboard the M/V Fling or the M/V Spree, and provides the following information to help you plan for your Flower Gardens dive experience.

• Everyone who wants to dive the Flower Gardens must be a certified diver, and needs to bring their own dive gear with them. Dive gear can be rented locally.
• The Flower Gardens is a National Marine Sanctuary, and the collecting of specimens is not allowed within the sanctuary. Fishing from the boats is not allowed.
• Large pelagic fish are encountered on most dives. Examples are: hammerhead sharks (February-March); spotted eagle rays (February-May); manta rays (most dives year round); silky and blacktip reef sharks (most dives year round); and whale sharks (occasionally June-October).

• Night dives are offered on all multiday trips, weather permitting, and offer a unique and exciting view of the reef. spiny lobsters, slipper lobsters, nurse sharks, crabs, octopus, and many live cowries and urchins await your visit.
• August offers a rarely seen view of coral spawning. The coral spawn at the Flower Gardens is predictable, right down to the day and time. One boat is dedicated to research but the other is available for sport divers. If watching the coral spawn sounds thrilling, book early because that trip fills up in the spring.
• The most favorable weather for diving at the Flower Gardens is June through September. As long as the weather cooperates, the diving at the Flower Gardens is excellent year round.
• The reef at the Flower Gardens is a no-touch zone. Good buoyancy skills must be practiced to ensure the continued health of the reef.

If you're interested in diving at the Flower Garden Banks, you'll need to contact a dive shop; direct bookings are not taken for the M/V Fling or the M/V Spree.

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