We are due at the boat at 8:00 pm, so there's no reason to get there the night before or the morning of. Last year people were arriving between 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm. Except Mitch, who came and went and came back again so fast, I don't know when he got there!FYI..I live by Bush Intercontinental and will be glad to pick anyone up that needs it..don't know my exact plans ( drive down night before..morning of.) but I have time..
I may try to go on this trip as I typically do the Gardens a couple of times a year. July/Aug/Sep is definitely the time to do it. Deciding between this and Holbox/Coz right now.
Regardless of my decision, anyone who does get down early and wants to chill on the Galveston Beach and use my house as a place to shower/change/drink/bbq etc is welcome. I live on the far west end of Galveston and it only takes 15-20 minutes to drive there from my house. We could make it an unofficial SD Happy Hour spot.
....for what's it worth, I just got back from Cozumel 2/10 - 2/13/06, and so far I just haven't had the heart to do a trip report just yet, suffice it to say Cozumel has been NUKED and transformed into an underwater wasteland.....I don't anticipate a recovery for decades, if not centuries, and that's not considering the ongoing environmental pressures of mankind and global-warming on any possible reef recovery.........although I know SD.com just did a New Year's trip there for a week and it's participant's may offer their own perspective on things.
I've done 3 FG/Stetson trips so far, and the pristine, healthy nature of the reefs/fish/big animals is WAY better than Cozumel (I've done 4 weekend trips to Cozumel over 2 1/2 yrs, so I'm somewhat familiar with what Cozumel is/was before Wilma/Emily)
...Cozumel shocked me so much I'm replacing it with FG/Stetson for my 'value' priced trips and have penciled in 2 July/ 1 Aug / and 1 Sept trip out there this summer....for us Texans within driving distance, it's quite a blue-water-diving bargain.
Holbox sounds unique, although it's not for me, as 4 snorkel dives, even with Whalesharks, doesn't compute value-wise....and I will take my chances maybe scuba-diving with Whalesharks at Flower Gardens as I did Labor Day weekend '03
...it's not my intention to bad-mouth any SD.com trip destination, I volunteer my observations to anyone here 'torn' between selecting the Flower Gardens July trip versus the July Cozumel trip in the hopes I can help some of you make a well-informed decision, and avoid an expensive/frustrating mistake.
Karl
Hello Karl,
Its your friend Carla, I know you're going on this trip with me...it wouldn't be the same. Remember how much fun we had last time. The current was bad on the night dive, and I picked on you about the sharks, ya know bumping into a shark. That was some wild surge back and forth motion. Hope you are doing well.