Hope

Today began bright and early with a 6:15 wake-up so we could motor over to Salt Island, where the RMS Rhone lies under the surface. The Rhone was a ship in the Royal Mail Service that was deemed ‘unsinkable’. In 1867, with a hurricane approaching, a nearby luxury passenger ship sent many of its customers to stay on the Rhone and wait out the storm. The Rhone anchored in Great Harbor Peter, where we were anchored this morning and are moored as of now. When the surges got too strong, the Rhone cut their anchor and attempted to head out to open ocean, but missed by a few hundred feet. The cold water hit the boilers and caused the boat to implode and separate. The stern sank in about 50-60 feet of water, and the bow sank in about 70-80 feet. At about 7-7:30, the DMC’s and instructors all splashed to go on a “staff” dive to the bow of the Rhone. Lilly and I were both wearing Dulamimi’s. Unfortunately, I had issues with my tank, so I had to tap out. On that dive, people saw a humongous ray, turtle, and some lobsters, but struggled a bit with a strong current. Chloe, Leo, Yana, Nico, and I sat on the surface with Max during this dive. On the second dive, Nico and I joined groups with instructors while the other DMC’s rested from their dive. Yana, Chloe, and Leo all hiked up Salt Island, and all took and passed their sailing exams (yay!) with flying colors. After lunch, we had a delicious lunch of chicken-flavored ramen, which was very fitting for a hot day with extremely choppy waters. No spillage, thankfully. After lunch, Nico and I took a dive break while the other DMCs guided groups, and we saw lots of fish schools, a shark, and the lucky porthole, which they all gave a rub. On the last dive, Nico, Shay, and I all joined the instructors on dives, and Chloe, Yana, and Leo were all on this dive as well. Right after rubbing the lucky porthole, we saw a 5-ish-foot black tip reef shark (coincidence? I think not). Speaking of which, today’s dive and the Playgrounds two days ago broke my several-year-long curse of never seeing sharks on dives. Anyway, afterward we motored back over to GHP and right now are about to join a mega raft with all AQ boats (except Out House because they’re a monohull, suckers) and do some EFR practicals.