Today I woke up at around 7am to submit my blog post before breakfast. Instead of going to the usual place for breakfast, we went directly to the dock where the Dive BVI team had already set up a small breakfast consisting of banana bread, muffins, yogurt, and a few drinks. Even through it was it a lot of food it was enough to get a good start the day.
After eating the quick breakfast right on the dock, we boarded the boat and went off to the dive site. It took about 45 minutes to get to the dive site (R.M.S. Rhone). Once at the dive site we geared up and got in the water. The dive went great. We got down to 80 feet and saw a huge moray eel. It was my first time diving inside a wreck and I was amazed with the amount of growth on the sunken ship including hundred of sponges. I also saw multiple large fish including a pretty big barracuda. After the first dive which was about 35 minutes we took a 40 minute surface interval. During this time the current really picked up and the boat began to sway up and down. I began to get a little seasick but I ate a granola bar and drank some water and I felt better.
The second dive was on the stern of the ship and it was a lot more difficult swimming against the current. This dive was swallower so I saw less sponges and more soft coral. After the second dive on the R.M.S. Rhone we headed over to copper island to get a bite to eat. The best part was that the restaurant was right on the water and the fish and chips were great. After lunch the general manager of the resort on copper island talked to us about how they use solar power as well as Eco-friendly products in order to lessen the resort’s impact on the environment. Next, we got back on the boat and snorkeled around the area. I saw a huge tarpon as well as a school of 7 large barracudas. As I made my way to the shallows I began to see some smaller fish including snapper, grouper, and parrotfish. After the one hour snorkel, we went back to Virgin Gorda and went back to the villas for a break before going to dinner. It was nice to have some time to rest and sleep. After about an hour and a half, we went to Mad Dogs and had lasagna for dinner, followed by a briefing by Casey on coral replanting. It will interesting to see how the coal harvesting and replanting goes tomorrow since we studied it and listened to lectures about it.
**photo credit – mr. Kirby**
