Jim Hayden –
We started off the day by waking up at 6:40 A.M and getting our stuff together and getting ready for the day. Today the Lime cabin had everyone over for breakfast. After breakfast Doc briefed us on the day ahead of us, and then Glen took us to the marina. Ben drove us about 45 minutes out to the backside of salt island where the RMS Rhone went down about one-hundred and fifty years ago. Casey briefed us on the dive we where about to take and then we geared up. Our first dive was to go around the Bow of the Rhone and do a swim through. We descended to about 75 feet and Beth took us through the Rhone. Only one passenger from the Rhone survived when it was sunken one-hundred and fifty years ago. When we swam through the Rhone, Nick and I spotted about a 5-6 foot barracuda. When we came out of the ship, Nick also spotted an octopus under a rock. After swimming through the Rhone we swam back to the boat and surfaced. While we were out of the water waiting to do dive number two on the boiler and stern of the Rhone, Casey told us a personal ghost story involving the Rhone. She told us the history of it and then explained when she was diving with an elderly couple, the man said he saw a face behind the propeller and felt like someone was trying to rip his regulator out of his mouth. There was no one there though and Casey says it is the ghost of captain who commanded the Rhone. Also she told us it is good luck to rub the window on the bottom of the ocean that the one passenger escaped from. After gearing up for dive two, we hit the water and started our descent. On this dive we saw many more things that were on the ship. For instance there was a spoon there that is said to be the captains, pieces of tile, and wrenches. On this dive we got to see a sea horse, a sea turtle, and a ton of other fish. After the dive we cleaned all the gear and put it up. That was our last dive of the trip, but we still had snorkeling to do. We went to lunch at Cooper Island Beach Club on Cooper Island. After lunch we snorkeled in the bay of Cooper Island and saw a ton of stingrays, two Sea turtles, porcupine fish, and an eel. After snorkeling we got back on the boat and headed back to the yacht club to dock the boat and get picked up by Glen. After that, Glen dropped us off to write our blogs, work on projects, and shower up for mass. We had mass in the church on the hill and there was an amazing view from the church. After mass we went back to the cabins to change into our bathing suits and grab our snorkeling gear to go night snorkeling. Before snorkeling, Casey provided us with cheeseburgers and hot dogs for dinner. Beth also made some amazing cupcakes! During the night snorkel I saw some amazing things. One of the things that interested me the most was the bioluminescent marine animals. Whenever we held our flashlights towards our body and it was dark, you could see a bunch of small specks that glowed. After the night snorkel we went back to the cabins to get showered and grab our iPads to write our blogs. After we upload our blogs we wil go back to the cabins and rest for tomorrow. Tomorrow I look forward to presenting the staff and teachers our project and having some free time to relax.
P.S. – Sorry Dad for losing your hat… It was windy today.
