Today was an amazing day I woke up at around 615 to go on a run with some of the dive bvi people. When I got back I got changed into my clothes for the day and then headed off to breakfast. Once everybody ate breakfast we headed down to the gates to be picked up by Glen who would then take us to the docks. Once we arrived at the docks we shortly fell into our usual routine loading tanks and vests and other scuba equipment. Once everything was loaded onto the boat we headed off to the (Rhone) a shipwreck back in the late 1800s that happened during a hurricane and we would be getting to swim through it. The dive would consider of looking at all the parts of the ship that blew up and apart to the surrounding area. We would mainly focus on the bow and hull of the ship. So we started getting ready, putting on our fins our dive vests. tank, regulator and our goggles, once we were all prepped to go we lined up in single file line on and jumped off two at a time into the churning ocean. The currents were very strong due to the depth and area we were in. The white tips of the waves started to pull us away from the boat but we had a line to hang onto to avoid floating away with the current. The current was very very strong today, so once everybody was in the water descended with a rope that everybody hung onto until we got to the bottom were the current was less strong than it was 90 feet above. Once we were all at the bottom and signaled we were okay to our buddies and To the dive instructors. When everybody was settled and ready to go, we took off toward the hull of the ship circling around it, the ship itself was surrounded by part of itself that had been blown away during the explosion. It was amazing it looked like a little city down there, the ship itself was huge, there were pillars sticking out of the boat and the ground we could see a huge propeller that was half sunken. There were parts of the ship that led into and out of the ground. We saw huge sea fish around the boat and crabs and lobsters and jellyfish and a huge southern stingray. When we circled around the boat we headed towards the hull of the ship, when we entered it was an eerie pitch black and the temperature dropped immediately I could feel the hair on my skin rising and goosebumps forming from the dark wet cold place we had just entered, it chilled me to the bone, it was completely pitch black except for the shaft of lights that shined down through the holes in the ship and the gaping entrance to the far left about 50 feet in front of us. We shined the flashlight through the ship and found huge lobsters and eels and Crab-fish. When we exited the ship there was a vast emptiness and loneliness to the ocean but then we turned to the left and saw more remains of the ship that had cool shapes and fish and organisms and reefs attached or surrounding it. Soon we were getting low on air so we started our ascendent and our safety stop which consisted of a three minute stop to make sure the nitrogen levels lowered to normal levels to avoid sea sickness and other symptoms of that sort. Once we surfaced up top we boarded the ship and headed off to ginger island for a shark dive!!! Once we arrived at ginger island there was a sense of excitement and fear and dread amongst the crew (not including the master divers they were only excited) . The waters were a lot more rough with a strong current again. Once we all did more or less the exact procedure as the other dives we were heading down to the depths of the ocean before we knew it. Once we landed my depth gauge read 75 feet which wasn’t to bad of a depth since we had just dove 90 feet and the rule being the second dive should always be a shorter and smaller depth than the first one. So when we got to the bottom it was like a little maze with sand stripes running through the reefs and then a drop off zone. When we touched the sand we immediately had 3-5 foot reef sharks checking us out and circling us. They soon would swim right at us and then divert to the left or right they seemed to start to get use to our presence and would get closer and closer to us which wasn’t bad with the 3 foot sharks but with the 5 foot reef sharks reaching six feet that was a little frightening because you didn’t know if those jaws and razor sharp teeth would be right on you or not. As one of the sharks swam by me he looked right into my eye and me into his, and that’s when I knew that this was there realm and we had to respect it and leave them alone and not bother them. So we quietly observed them and took great pictures and videos. It was an expire cd to remember. There were at least 10 reef sharks or more in total. While they weren’t huge they were still almost bigger than us. After that amazing dive which was the best of my life we had lunch after that and then we went on a snorkel and a night snorkel to wrap up my groups project which we will be concluding tomorrow and presenting. Then we had dinner on the beach all in all it was a day I would never forget.
