Flower Garden Banks

Location

The Flower Gardens, officially named Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, is located in the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas coast. The sanctuary consists of three unique areas: East Flower Garden, West Flower Garden, and Stetson Bank, as seen in the map below.

Source: Texas Parks and Wildlife¹

Reefs
Each sanctuary is a coral reef area, and is a unique ocean ecosystem in itself. Coral reefs are formed by pressure in the ocean floor pushing up salt, resulting in a "salt dome," named from the dome shape of the salt pile. As the Encyclopedia of Earth² states,

... corals at the Flower Gardens probably originated from Mexican reefs when currents in the western Gulf of Mexico carried coral larvae, other animal larvae, and algal spores northward. A few of the coral larvae were lucky enough to settle on the hard substrate of the Flower Garden Banks and initiate reef growth.

Visit by Boat
You can visit the Flower Garden Banks by boat by leaving from the coast near Galveston. The official Flower Garden Banks website³ states

There are several commercial dive and fishing charter operators that take people out to the sanctuary and surrounding oil and gas platforms. However, if you choose to head out on a private boat, you’ll need to be aware of the sanctuary boundaries, mooring buoy coordinates, sanctuary regulations and reef etiquette.

Since the reefs are protected, you need to be aware of these boundaries and regulations so you can preserve the reefs for others to see and enjoy.


Diving

The ocean creates fast and sometimes dangerous currents, so I would recommend that you first dive in the ocean where a reef is not located. This way, you can learn to keep your buoyancy control in the salt water while not causing damage to reefs during practice. 

Once you can handle the currents, the reefs can be an amazing experience. Be sure to have a still or video camera so you can remember all the amazing wildlife you encounter.

Source: National Marine Sanctuary³

Footnotes

[1] Flower Gardens. (2007, July 30). Texas Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved March 3, 2011, from http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/learning/webcasts/livedive2001/flowergarden.phtml

[2] Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. (2006, October 19). The Encyclopedia of Earth. Retrieved March 3, 2011, from http://www.eoearth.org/article/Flower_Garden_Banks_National_Marine_Sanctuary?topic=49513

[3] Visiting Your Sanctuary. (2011, March). Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. Retrieved March 3, 2011, from http://flowergarden.noaa.gov/visiting/visit.html