Paradise

We spent the night at Salt Island. Early in the morn, we were tied to a mooring ball above the most famous wreck dive in the BVI. The 310' RMS Rhone went down in 1867 after a huge hurricane swept the area. Many died as the SOP of the day was to was to lash the passengers and crew to their beds. She sank quickly in about 30'-80' of water. The bow is still somewhat intact and one of the highlights of the dive. We dropped down to the bow and the vis was amazing at well over 100'. We quickly swam into the hull and thru a very large passageway which was the major corridor of the ship. I love diving caves so this was cool. We continued and saw a plethora of fish and sea life. This was one of the top dives in my life and I have been to many of the top dive spots around the world. We saw all the major sections and it was really beautiful. Next was a nice lunch on Peter Island in a lovely cafe. After, I swam out to the boat and saw my first Caribbean turtle. We headed over to Painted Walls for our last dive. Really neat rock formations, fish, another turtle and an arch to swim thru. Then it was nap time as we motored over to Norman island and the caves. We had a nice anchorage almost to ourselves. Dinner was filet mignon kabobs over rice noodles with our last of the sixty six bottles of wine that we brought for the trip. Yes we have some serious wine drinkers in our group!! Then we had a trip to the famous Willy T's floating pirate bar. We stuck around for a few and then headed back to boat as our group was pretty tired. When we arrived back at the boat, Rita (our gourmet chef) had put together a DVD of our trip set to sailing music. Really nice look back on all the fun we had over the last week. What a fab trip!!! Opps gotta go. The famous caves of Norman Island are calling to me like the sirens and Ulysses. Just got back from the snorkel and it just gets better and better. We are sailing into port as I type so I will wrap up the trip with the highlights upon my return to San Fran. Aloha!