Gulf of Mexico

Fling Charters has issued a notice regarding the increasing cost of fuel. There is a high probability of a fuel surcharge being applied to the trip prices, based on the anticipated increase in fuel prices. Read about it here.

Diving the Flower Gardens

The Gulf of Mexico offers some of the best and wildest diving you will ever see. Under-appreciated by those who have not been there, sites like the Flower Gardens Banks, Stetson's Bank and the better oil and gas platforms feature high-energy, large animal experiences and populations of fish that remind one of past decades.

The difference between Gulf sites and those one may be familiar with in the Caribbean are where the diving occurs. In the Caribbean, sites are often one to two hundred yards offshore. In the Gulf the sites are seventy-five to one hundred miles offshore. The area is a National Marine Sanctuary and protected from commercial fishing, oil exploration, dumping garbage, using explosives and, generally, anything that might damage or disrupt the environment or it's inhabitants.

Sightings of Mantas, whale sharks, reef sharks and pelagic animals are common as well as some of the healthiest hard corals to be seen. There are opportunities to see large turtles, more barracuda than can be counted and very large schools of fish. It is one of the best places we have ever been diving and right in our back yard.

Pricing for the Flower Garden trips is $570 for a Saturday - Sunday trip and $520 for Thursday - Friday trip. Nitrox is an extra $65 for those certified to use it.