I woke up a little later than normal at 7:00 ready to start an incredible day. I eagerly anticipated going to what I predict to be the highlight of the trip: The Wreck of the Rhone. We quickly ate breakfast on the docks and went out to Salt Island. Now there were four things I really wanted to see on this trip: a sea turtle, lobster, barracuda, and shark. On the way out we saw two huge sea turtles going toward Cooper Island possibly to lay their eggs. Once we got there we readied up, jumped in, and started our descent. We took the short swim to the ship, and once we got there I was in awe of the huge vessel. It was still somewhat intact allowing us to swim through it. I was a little nervous that I would hit the ship and destroy the coral, but once I began I was fine. I got through and we looked at some more of the ship before returning to the surface. On this dive we saw a lobster along with some other fish, sponges and coral. We came up to the surface and rested before dive two. Dive two was a bit of a roller coaster. Right as I jumped in I immediately started having trouble with my buoyancy. I don’t know why it happened, but it took me about five minutes to get buoyant. Then we went down to the other half of the Rhone, and began by swimming trough the propellor. Then we went to the lucky number 26 porthole. For those who are unaware, there was only one passenger who survived the wreck. He was an Italian man who stayed in room 26 and escaped through the porthole. You can still see the “26” etched into the porthole, and if you move your finger around the porthole, you get three Italian things. We then went to take a picture with the Jesuit flag after this. I had another wild experience when as I went to kneel down for the picture, I put my knee in fire coral. The only comparison I could think of to describe the feeling is a burn that stays with you for 30 minutes. It wasn’t fun. After this, we went up and we saw the most amazing thing of the trip: a giant barracuda. It was about fifteen feet away from me. I really wish I had a camera, but fortunately a friend took a picture for me. I watched it for a couple of minutes before heading for the surface. After this dive, we went and ate at Cooper Island. I had some classic fish and chips. We then went on a tour about how Cooper Island does different things to help the environment. One unique thing they have is 90 solar panels that produce 75% of the energy needed to run the island. It was very interesting and I learned a lot. We then went snorkeling again. I saw three baby squid and a baby swordfish. We then hopped back on the boats, and went to dinner to end our day.
