Well today started off a little differently because Miles came in clutch and made eggs for breakfast, which was fantastic. Afterwards, Glen picked us up and we headed off to the marina. Gaz told us in the briefing that we would be diving the shipreck of a vessel named the Rhone, and he also warned us about the ghosts that live there. He didn’t tell us much more than that because he would be giving us the full story between dives. Once we jumped in, it became evident that the Rhone was a massive vessel in its day. At this particular dive site descending was particularly challenging because of a strong current, but that didn’t stop us because Gaz guided us through the whole process. At the bottom we explored the Entire bow of the ship, which was completely covered in vibrant coral. In fact, this entire wreck is considered an artificial reef because nearly every inch of it is covered by some form of marine life. Because of the massiveness of the ship, we had to resurface and switch tanks,mane that’s where Gaz told us the history behind the Rhone. Basically, it was an English vessel made in 1865 and it sank in 1867 in a severe storm. This ship was also one of the first steamships in Britain, and as such it sank like a rock when the hull was breached by a large rock. All of the crew survived but only 1 of the 300 passengers survived. On our second trip down to the Rhone we explored the stern and the mast, and even got to rub the lucky porthole. (Porthole of the room the passenger that survived escaped from.) After we had surfaced we headed off to Copper Island for lunch and a snorkel in the sea grass. Well lunch was INCREDIBLE, we had fish and chips and afterwards I bought a scoop of mango sorbet. Next we headed of to our snorkel where I touched the back of a seaturtle. (Pretty much the highlight of my day.) After making it back to the marina we unloaded and Glen took us back to Guavaberry. Once there we got cleaned up and spent the rest of our day working on our group projects before dinner. This was our last beach dinner, and we had great Mexican food. I can’t wait to tag sea turtles tomorrow! So today we woke up, ate breakfast, and headed down to the commissary for a briefing from the BVI seaturtle expert Doctor Gore. Afterwards we were ready to head off to our vertebrate study, where Casey captured vertebrates for us to identify and study. Some these included, two sea urchins, a coral shrimp, and a lot of tiny sea slugs. After we wrapped that up, we headed off on our seaturtle tagging snorkel trip. Unfortunately, of the two turtles we saw we didn’t catch either one. Whilst snorkeling I did however find a really cool fishing rod covered in coral, and I posed for a sweet picture with it. We headed back after that and Glen took us back to Guavaberry where we had to prepare for our projects later that day. Our group volunteered to present our projects first, and I’m pleased to say we did very well. When everyone finished, we headed down to the beach for pizza, and watched the sunset again. Because I forgot my water bottle, Casey made me do an impression of myself which was very challenging. After a nice laugh we all went to bed. I can’t wait to see what our last day in the BVI will hold. I will miss this place very much.
