Diving the Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary

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Diving the Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary

Years ago, I remember Aaron telling me about Flower Gardens and how it was this incredibly unique place in the Gulf of Mexico and that he wanted to dive it (if it’s underwater, he wants to dive it, but that’s beside the point). The problem is that the only charter to go there leaves out of Freeport, TX and is usually sold out when it isn’t blown out. If you live outside of a day’s drive from Freeport, it’s too risky to plan a trip down, pay for flights, only to be told that the seas are too rough and that a storm is blowing in. So, it was put on the back burner and there it stayed. Until this past June.

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The Longest Surface Interval

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The Longest Surface Interval

685 days. 1 year, 10 months, 16 days. That was the length of my last surface interval. It's embarrassing really, especially when Aaron and I had gone 12 for 12 (at least one dive per month, every month) for nearly three years. However, as I prepared to take my giant stride off the boat into the dark waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the closest land more than a 100 nautical miles away, wearing a wet suit (which still fit, surprisingly,  after having two babies) and the rest of the gear necessary to support human life underwater,  there was a sense of exhilaration, and also trepidation. Right hand on my mask, my left on the waist band of my harness, my stomach momentarily somersaulted as I stepped off the boat and started falling before plunging into the water in a cloud of bubbles. And with that first jump, my longest surface interval since we were certified in 2012, came to an end.

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