On day four on Virgin Gorda, we woke up and ate a speedy breakfast at the harbor, and got on our respective boats. We traveled to the wreck site of the RMS Rhone, a ship that sank during a hurricane in 1867, for two dives. On the first dive, we would explore the bow, or the front half of the ship, and an hour later on the second dive, we would explore the back half of the ship, or the stern. On these dives, we executed what are called “penetration dives”, because we swam through an object, in this case, the ship. We saw many preserved pieces of the ship, like the huge 17 foot prop, the ship’s gearbox, a huge wrench rack, lucky porthole #26, and even a silver spoon that has adhered to coral. The silver spoon is the only “valuable” artifact that has not been collected for museum display, as it is impossible to remove it from its coral base. As far as wildlife, we saw a few trumpetfish, several squirrelfish, parrotfish, blue tangs, a pufferfish, a green moray eel, and a flounder. After the two dives, we docked at Cooper Island Beach Club for a delicious fish and chips lunch, and then a tour and presentation about the eco-friendly island.
We viewed the solar panels on top of the restaurant that produce 75% of the island’s electricity, and saw a building under construction that would house more solar panels as well as a sewage bioreactor. From there, we moved farther along the coast of Cooper Island and snorkeled a seagrass meadow. We saw several barracudas, blue tangs, parrotfish, some angelfish, a turtle, and a stingray. After heading back to Guavaberry, we had some time to rest before dinner, during which looked at the pictures I had taken throughout the day. Then, after a delicious lasagna dinner at Mad Dog, Casey gave a presentation about tomorrow’s objective: coral replanting. Then, after logging the day’s dives, we returned to Guavaberry for some Internet time and sleep.
