Today has left me completely exhausted after a long day of diving down to the Rhone shipwreck, snorkeling around Cooper Island, and attempting my group’s project during the night snorkel. At the surface of the Rhone shipwreck, massive waves rocked the boat, making everybody a little queezy in the stomach. However, once down under, the sight of the ship itself was incredible. We learned about how it was made and declared “unsinkable” by the British in 1865 (there seems to be a trend on how ships the British declare “unsinkable” sink). Due to how long the ship had actually been under the water, the dive masters showed us how it has since then become a sustainable place for a thriving reef. Swimming through the ship itself, I witnessed my very first Stingray, it was quite a sight. After two dives stacked on top of each other down to the shipwreck, we headed over to Cooper Island for possibly the best fish and chips I’ve ever eaten. After the delicious food and gelato, we did a 45 minute snorkel around the bay and had a diving contest in which Ty Morin won. After dinner and a less than spectacular dance off between those who forgot their belongings on the boats, the night/project snorkel began. For my project, I made three trips out to a rock about 50 yards off shore in search of bioluminescent plankton. They were there, but the hard part was successfully capturing them and bringing them back to shore. On my third and final trip of the night, we finally began to capture a few plankton but simply fanning them into a cooler and bringing that to shore. It turned out to be a little unsuccessful, but it’s okay because we have tomorrow night in which we can improve our methods.
