This morning, I woke up to a repetitive exotic bird chirping about 5 feet outside my window. After I finally learned to cope with the noise, I heard my alarm go off across the room and knew it was time to start my morning. We ate breakfast at the same place as yesterday and it tasted even better today. After an excellent breakfast, we walked to the marina and loaded the boats in preparation for the two big dives coming up. When we were ready, we left the docks for a 25 minute boat ride to the RSS Rome wreck site, a 300 foot cruise liner that sunk due to a hurricane in the late nineteenth century. On this dive we reached up to about 80 feet; that being said, our bottom was very limited due to the change in pressure affecting the volume of the oxygen. Not only did we see tons of unique ecosystems specific to the wreck, this dive included a very long swim through of the main part of the vessel. After we returned to the surface and onto the boat, the instructors gave us tons of information on the cause of the wreck and the stories, legends, and history that went along with it. Very interesting. On our second dive which was a little shallower, we explored some of the parts of the ship that we talked about during our surface interval such as the marble tile dance floor and the colossal bronze propeller. During this dive we also saw two eels, one being a very rare species. After our dives, we had DELICIOUS fish and chips on the beautiful Cooper Island followed by some excellent but pricey mango gelato. At Cooper Island, we also took an extensive snorkel trip, hoping to claim a $50 bounty for a seahorse sighting. No luck :(. After, we grilled out at the resort beach and went on a very cool night snorkel with powerful underwater flashlights in which we saw many cool organisms that we could not see during the day. Great way to end the day and looking forward to catch a monster turtle tomorrow and tagging it.
Goodnight,
Ryan
