Day three, like every other day, was fantastic. On day three we dove at the wrecked Rhone. The Rhone was a British mail ship and luxury liner built in eighteen sixty five. The Rhone sunk in eighteen sixty seven during a hurricane. During the aforementioned storm, the Rhone was launched up onto a rock that split it’s hull and once the cold ocean water hit the steam engine in the hull an explosion was created that severed the boat in two. While all of the crew, except captain Willie survived, only one passenger was survived the fiasco. Because he survived, it is tradition to rub the survivor’s cabin’s porthole, during the dive for good luck. On the first dive at the Rhone, we saw one of my favorite fish, yellow headed jawfish, which are small burrowing fish that pop in and out of there holes when big fish or divers swim too close. On the second dive at the Rhone, I saw another favorite fish of mine, the queen angel fish, which is brilliant yellow and blue fish with extended thread thin fins on its dorsal and ventral fins. After the dives we learned about the pros and cons of artificial reefs. The pros are ver straightforward. Artificial reefs create new fish habitats over time and create cool dive sites that benefit tourism. However the cons can outweigh, when a ship sinks it, depending on its location, could crush an already flourishing reef or it could cause harm to marine life by leaking pollutants. The best artificial reefs are those that are made purposely with planning as a safe site is chosen and the objects is thoroughly cleaned to remove all possible pollutants before entering the water. We then arrived at Cooper Island, home of the best fish n chips in the BVI made with Mahi Mahi. After our incredibly delicious meal, we snorkeled around the sea grass of Cooper Island. While snorkeling with my dive buddy Sully, we saw some fire worms, garden eels and another favorite of mine, cow fish. We even saw some tarpon and a barracuda which frequent the area dude to the abundant baitfish, small fish that usually school that are frequently preyed upon, like ballyhoo. Once we finished snorkeling we headed to the beach for dinner and night snorkeling. During the night snorkel my project group made our first attempt at gathering bioluminescent plankton and while we did find some our capture techniques were flawed as was our homemade equipment so we are trying again later.
