July 16-17
We started off another day by heading towards the Lime Tree Cabin to eat breakfast. After eating, we headed towards the RMS Rhone shipwreck off the coast of Salt Island. We went over the dive site with Casey before going down to the shipwreck. Once we descended, the first thing I saw was a school of squirrel-fish in a cave seemingly hiding from predators. Then we saw this huge lobster underneath a much smaller cave. We continued on to the RMS Rhone to see the only survivor passenger that got out. It was an Italian man that got out of cabin 26. The rest of the crew got out except captain Wooley who got washed away by the hurricane’s waves. The ship sunk on October 29, 1867. Overall, 22 crew members and 1 passenger survived. On the second dive, we were able to see the Italian passenger’s window and we rubbed it for good luck. We also saw the captains lucky tea spoon and all the rest of the ship wreck including the crow’s nest and the ships’s propeller. We were able to go on the inside of the wreck and spotted schools of fish and eve a barracuda in the shadows waiting to prey on the school. I learned that the captain along with the crew members locked the passengers in their room for safety and that’s why over three hundred passengers drowned. After the first two dives, we went snorkeling and I spotted two eels next to each other lurking inside two holes. About 5 of us kept going down to get closer looks at it and it was also awesome to see a sea biscuit.
After the fun snorkel, we headed to Cooper Island for a delicious lunch. I ordered a Mahi Mahi wrap with fries. I sat next to Ryan and Barret. After eating, we headed over to the souvenir shop where I bought myself a navy t-shirt. Then some of us went swimming for a bit an some just sat around the beach. We then departed back to Guavaberry to get a collared shirt and khaki shorts for mass. We headed over with Glenn our driver to church. After mass, there was an amazing view from the balcony where a lot of us took some pictures. Finally, we headed back to Guavaberry again to get ready for the night snorkel and for dinner. I ate a burger and hotdog. In the night snorkel, we were able to see parrotfish sleeping with the mucous ball they make to sleep. And finally, we say a family of small squid and an octopus. We were also able to see octopus. I am really looking forward to presenting our project well and getting a good grade.
