Day 6,
Today was yet another beautiful sunny day in Virgin Gorda. The day started off a little later than usual at 6:50am because I decided to get a couple more minutes of rest, before our long and exciting day. Breakfast was the usual cereal, honey buns, yogurt, and fruit. Lime hosted it today and it was a good way to wake up and get energized. After breakfast, everyone headed to the yacht harbor and loaded up to go dive the RMS Rhone. This was the dive everyone had been looking forward to, and it’s world famous. Here’s a little background behind the Rhone. The RMS Rhone was a member of the U.K. Royal Mail Ship fleet. The Rhone was 310 feet long and was innovative for its time because it was one of the first steam ships to use a bronze propeller. The Rhone carried 253 first class passengers, 30 second class, and 30 third class. It was first commissioned for sea travel in 1865. The Rhone was actually one of two ships deemed unsinkable, and the other was the Titanic (we all know how that ship faired). While in commission in the Carribean off the coast of Salt Island, the Rhone sunk while trying to traverse a hurricane. The ship sunk on October 29, 1867, killing all of its passengers but one, who was an Italian man set loose from the ship when a steam explosion ripped apart seventy feet of the Rhone. He escaped through a porthole, which is now known as the lucky porthole and whenever anyone dives the Rhone they must rub the porthole clockwise three times for good luck. Along with the Italian man, all 23 crew members survived except for the captain, Captain Wooley, who was thrown from the boat by a massive wave. His body has never been found and many people who have dived the Rhone at night have felt a tugging on their fins, and this is said to be Captain Wooley protecting his boat to this day. Okay that was the history of the Rhone. Our first dive was our deepest dive of the week and we drove around the stern. Our dive was max 80 feet and we were able to dive and look at the relic of the 19th century. Getting to go inside of the ship, seeing massive lobsters, Nassau grouper, tons of schooling fish, large yellow snappers, and even a large barracuda. This dive was very cool and one that I will never forget. Our second dive was a little shallower and this time we focused on the bow of the boat. The ship was much more open and was also home to the lucky porthole, which I rubbed three times (hopefully that brings me good luck). We also saw a sea horse which is really cool, because they are really rare and it was really cool to see one in its natural habitat. The Rhone was very neat and a place that I recommend anyone who gets the chance, to snorkel or dive at. After diving the Rhone we went to Cooper Island Beach Club, and I enjoyed a delicious mani mani wrap with fries and a pineapple juice (definitely the best meal of the week). We spent the next 45 minutes after exploring the hops at Cooper Island Resort, which is an entirely Eco-friendly island, that runs only on renewable energy. After exploring for a bit we went snorkeling in the sea grass beds off the island. I snorkeled around for a bit and saw tons of rays, a couple of sea turtles, a porcupine fish, and massive Tarpin. Tarpin are neat because they were actually around during the prehistoric times. They are beautiful fish and actually have learned to breathe underwater and above water. After snorkeling we headed back to the cabins and got dressed for mass. The church we went to was small but was on top of a hill overlooking the whole island. It was a small service but it was a good one and I enjoyed it a lot. It gave me a time to reflect and find time for God in a busy day. After mass, we all went to the beach and had a cook out with the dive masters and relaxed and had fun. We finished the night with a night dive, where I saw squid, an octopus, and a ton of small fish. Overall today was great and it was a great way to end the dives this week. The BVI is beautiful and I’m looking forward to doing some community service tomorrow morning and presenting my project which my group has spent so much time and effort working on. Tomorrow should be a great last day. I’ll check back in tomorrow.
-Jake Hubbell
