When I tell folks that one of my favorite places on the planet to
dive is off the coast of Texas, images of a brown Galveston beach
muddied by the natural flow of rivers into the Gulf of Mexico
don’t exactly inspire visions of undersea beauty. However, 115
miles south of the Texas-Louisiana border lies a jewel known
as Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, where the
water is so clear the visibility is often more than 100 feet.
My first trip to the sanctuary began with a bumpy boat
ride. It was a Friday night, and I was trying to concentrate
on the flood of safety and dive information I was getting as
we motored past the jetties and into the gulf. At 10:30 p.m. I
ate a snack, took some Dramamine and headed to bed as we
steamed toward West Flower Garden Bank.
I awoke at 5:30 the next morning to a change in the engine’s
sound as the crew moored us to our first dive site. It had been
a rough ride out, and I was a little groggy but happy to have
found my sea legs. At 7 a.m. the pool was open, and with a
giant stride from high above the water, I jumped in.
As I made my way down to the reef 80 feet below, I was joined
by a dozen large barracudas. When I reached the reef I was
amazed at the amount of coral cover. The reef has more coral
than most Caribbean reefs I’ve seen, and fish were everywhere.
I recognized damselfish, a spotted moray eel, a balloonfish and
both queen and French angelfish. About 20 minutes into the
dive we were joined by a curious manta ray. Sanctuary staff have
identified more than 70 mantas by their unique belly markings,
and I got to see one on my very first dive.
In what seemed like no time, the dive was over, and I
made a slow trip up the mooring line to the boat. After
lunch, conditions were good enough for a dive at a gas-
production platform. The platform provided an unusual
dive with a very different set of visitors and a steady current
to swim against. Here we delighted in seeing big cowfish,
filefish, jacks and lots of encrusting sponges where tiny
gobies and blennies had found safe haven. Two large
loggerhead turtles hung out with us for awhile, too.
I finished the day with two dives at East Flower Garden
Bank, the second one after dark. During the night dive I
doused my flashlight against my chest and waved my hands
through the water to watch phosphorescent plankton
bounce off them. The dive was eerie and wonderful. I had
to be careful with my light, because shining it at one thing
for too long allowed a clever jack to make a quick meal of
the butterflyfish or other reef fish caught in the beam. We
were lucky to see a couple of sharks swim by, although they
weren’t interested enough to stick around. At the surface, it
was time for warm brownies, Blue Bell ice cream and bed.
Overnight, we moved to Stetson Bank, which looked like
an alien planet. There, salt domes had pushed the overlying
rock layers up to almost 90 degrees, forming ridges and
troughs. It looked like someone had plowed the bottom of
the ocean. There was less coral, and scorpionfish were a
common sight — that is, if you could spot them through
their camouflage. All too soon, the trip was over, but in a day
and a half I had logged eight incredible dives.
Those first dives in the sanctuary were 12 years ago, and I
have returned 14 times since that trip. Over the years I have
seen many rare sights, including a golden smooth trunkfish
and even a whale shark. Someday I hope to see the schools
of hammerheads that visit during the winter and the annual
coral spawn in August. Flower Garden Banks National Marine
Sanctuary is truly an amazing place and a national treasure.
66
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fall 2012
Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary
“
The Texas Caribbean”
By Janene Fowler
Above: Healthy corals and sponges
abound at Flower Garden Banks NMS.
Right: A tessellated blenny peers from its
hiding place on the leg of HI-389, an oil
platform in Flower Garden Banks NMS.
JESSE CANCELMO
CHRIS PARSONS