Diving in East Flower Garden Bank

East Flower Garden Bank sits in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, roughly one hundred and eighty-five kilometres offshore, within the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. The reef cap rises to around eighteen metres below the surface, with dives running to forty metres across a mix of reef, pinnacle, and artificial structures. This is advanced, boat-only diving reached by liveaboard charter from Freeport or Galveston. The bank is recognised for some of the healthiest coral cover in the Western Hemisphere, with large colonies of boulder star, brain, and mustard hill corals. Sea turtles, whale sharks, goliath grouper, and nurse sharks are among the species divers encounter, and the bank is one of only two known locations where the golden colour form of the smooth trunkfish has been recorded.