Every aspect of today simply was strong; every day out here seems to just get stronger. This morning we woke up at 7:10 after a night of playing cards in the cabin. I felt pretty sleepy at first but as soon as I had my coffee I was up and ready to go. We met at the road at 7:45 to head to the marina for breakfast. We at cereal and pop tarts from the Dive BVI office. The cereal was a nice change up. I opted for the high sugar frosted flakes and they tasted wonderful. After breakfast, we got on the boats and headed west to Salt Island( I only know the name because of Jeff. If you’re reading this Jeff, the other two islands were Ginger and Cooper. Look, I payed attention to your geography class. ) for a two tank dive at the RMS Rhone wreck. This was by far the coolest dive we have done all week. The Rhone wrecked in a hurricane about 150 years ago and for the most part has stayed in good shape. The propeller and drive shaft were still largely in tact, but much of the hull on the stern is missing because the navy blew it open as it was unsafe.
For our dives, the first dive was on the bow and the second was on the stern. For the first dive, we got to swim through the opening in the bow. The coolest animal that I saw on that dive has to be the group of squid. They appear out of nowhere and are constantly trying to move away or camouflage themselves.
There are several other interesting stories regarding the wreck as well. As you dive down to the stern, you see a porthole that is nearly polished smooth, which is because it is considered lucky. The story behind it is that there was only one passenger who survived the wreck, and it was the Italian man who stayed in the room behind that porthole. Therefore, when you rub the porthole, you get luck in three Italian ways: Cars, love, and food. Several other interesting things on the stern dive were the various sea turtles getting to swim through the propeller because it seemed so huge. Once we got out of the water, Caitlin had another interesting story about the wreck. She said that the people on salt island were very into voodoo, so when things from the wreck washed up on shore they wanted to get rid of them no matter what their value because they thought it was bad to have the possessions of the dead. Because of this, they gathered all the possessions and just sent them to the queen of England because they had no idea who else to send it to. When she got the stuff, she thought it was kind so she allowed anyone who had lived on salt island to live tax free as long as the island gave her 1 pound of salt every year. Salt was gathered on this island, so that’s where its name came from.
After the two dives, we headed over to Cooper island for lunch at the restaurant there. It was a super nice restaurant with a great view of the ocean and even better food. The third aspect of the Italian luck definitely came true here. We had fish and chips that were incredible. The fish was fried to perfection and just melted in your mouth. I decided to put hot sauce with mine as well and it ended up being a nice addition to the meal because it was their own recipe and had just the right tang.
After lunch we went for a snorkel off the beach of Cooper island in the turtle grass and saw some really interesting marine life. We saw a huge manta ray as well as the very rare triggerfish.
We also saw tarpin and some big trunk fish.
I also took some more photos of the various boats around Cooper Island
Following the snorkel, we headed back to Virgin Gorda and headed back to the rooms. While in our rooms before showers, Austin, Jackson, and I have been getting in a workout everyday. It’s been deemed “Grid iron” and it’s been pretty beneficial to staying in shape.
After showers, we headed to Mad Dogs for our last meal there…ever. They made a wonderful last meal of nachos and quesadillas. We learned that Mad Dogs will be closing down for business this year so that the owner, Inga, can travel the world. I wish her the best but it is also bittersweet; Mad Dogs has definitely felt like a tradition.
