Rhone diving

It was a dive I'd read about and it was supposed to be special, so after some inquiries I went with BVI Dive to the wreck of RMS Rhone. We had to get a permit to use one of the national park moorings, so I went to the park office and handed over my 12 dollars to a slightly disorganized but very cheerful lady at the counter. We anchored over at Peter island and in the morning motored over to Salt island, where the Rhone was wrecked about 150 years ago.



The dive was very well organized, and we went down two times, first for the bow section in about 25 meters and then the stern section, a bit shallower next to the rocks where it floundered and about 300 passengers met their deaths.

And it was awesome. Barracuda, sharks, huge lobsters, huge coral reef fish, it has it all. Two swim-throughs into the wreck with fish and lobsters hiding inside. And endless parts strewn across the ocean floor, some recognizable and some just coral encrusted bits of metal.

Just before the second dive, rain had started pouring so we went in and stayed just below the surface for a minute or two, watching the rain splashing down in the water above us. It is a very nice sight, especially in such nice warm water at 27° C.

So the diving in the BVI proved first rate, as the snorkeling already had. It was an excellent diving experience to conclude an already wonderful cruise in the Caribbean aboard Victor Too.

St. Kitts cruise ship Mecca

We didn't spend enough time in Nevis. It's a shame, but when we tried to get to the most Northerly bay, the wind made it impossible to get there. So we sailed immediately to St. Kitts, across the Narrows.



The stay in St. Kitts was nice, very relaxing and calm. We stayed a couple of days in Whitehouse Bay, where we met Sam and Alex and got together for a drink and some snacks. We snorkeled the bay to see some old wrecks and saw some old cannons lying on the sea bed right below Victor Too, and a Manta Ray swimming next to one of them.



In the capital Basseterre we got into the marina for water and fuel and to get six weeks of laundry done. The laundry cost was a bit of a shock and very badly folded on top of that, the price of water was a joke (15 US$) and the fuel never materialized. But apart from that, it was a nice marina and a pleasant town. But it also shows that if you put enough cruise ships in a port, prices become a joke while service not necessarily benefits. We had a similar experience with customs and immigration officers, which we wouldn't rate as high as our sacred guide (Doyle's) does. Perhaps bad luck, but perhaps they just don't need yachts that much anymore with up to 5 cruise ships in port at the same time.

Anyway, the people in town were very friendly and helpful, as everywhere we've been. We didn't go see a lot, being victims of the inflated prices (64 US$ per person for a train ride), but I did two dives at very good sites in excellent visibility.

I prefer smaller islands to bigger ones, but with too many cruise ship passengers in town, sometimes the larger islands with more remote bays provide more alternatives to escape the crowd. So far, we've had plenty of everything not to decide either way. We still have a couple of islands to go, each different. Plenty of opportunities along the way!

Paradise

It was promised to be a diving paradise but it proved to be much more. When we arrived in Dominica around midnight, nothing was visible yet of the lush rainforest, the magnificent coast line or the range of imposing volcanoes.



After saying goodbye to our friends who had a plane to catch in Guadeloupe, we arranged a dive for the next day and went to visit the thundering waters of Trafalgar falls. The drive there was steep and through wild jungle. After a short hike we reached the falls, but more importantly, we also found a hot water stream nearby. The river formed many ponds where one could lie in and we enjoyed the hot baths for over an hour.



It being seven months ago since I had a hot bath, you can imagine the joy of being in steaming hot water that long. After a while I began alternating between hot and cold pools and even in the pool where the hot and cold waters joined. It was pure bliss.



The next morning the dive boat from Aldive came to pick us up at eight thirty. Alan the dive master took us to Soufrière Pinnacle where we saw a wonderful coral drop off down to 24 metres. Lots of coral fishes, moray eels and a turtle. Before the second dive, Alan took us to the village and showed us around the historically rich buildings, such as the cave church. Later we bathed in the hot pool on the shore, where some stones were gathered to form a barrier from the sea water. Laying in the sea on the hot surface was another brilliant experience unique to Dominica.



This really is paradise. Meanwhile Ingrid was getting wet in the jungle on her way to the boiling lake, of which she has an account here.

Tobago Cays Turtles

After a blustery stay in Union island, we sailed to the Tobago Cays. A marine park, it is perfectly isolated and uninhabited. We anchored for three nights between Petit Bateau and Petit Rameau. The first snorkel around the boat, I saw three arrow squid swimming together. The second snorkel on the other side of Petit Bateau, we saw hundreds of fish and lots of corals. We did a drift dive on Mayreau Gardens in which we saw sharks and finally, on our last snorkel the day of our departure I saw three turtles grazing in the waters off Turtle beach. And on that beach I saw a lizard.

So the wildlife around the Cays was exactly as promised and then some.



We had left for the Cays around noon for a short hop of four Miles from Union. Union was fun but it was a bit spoiled by the fraudster trying to get away with delivering us three gallons of diesel less than we paid for. So I had to go to the police to get them to talk to the guy (named Des, drives a boat called Angelo) and get him to return the money.

The sail was rough because it had been blowing force sixes and sevens for three days. But once we got into the reefs, the waves subsided and we only had some current to contend with while looking for a nice anchorage.

The procession of vendors started immediately with bread, T-shirts, ice, lobsters and fish. The next three days, we were repeatedly reminded of what was on offer and even bought a T-shirt. More useful items were baguettes at the somewhat elevated price of 15 EC dollars apiece and ice at 25 dollars a bag. But it was all very cheery and never too much of a nuisance.

The snorkeling was fantastic and when the outboard handle broke, the park rangers were kind enough to offer us a tow back to the boat.

When we snorkeled Turtle beach on the last morning, we saw hawksbill turtles underwater eating and coming up for air in a very gracious dive.



After we got back to the beach, a giant lizard was observing us and only very slowly, as we got closer to look at it, did it seek a higher vantage point.



The sail out of the Cays was a short pleasant hop to Canouan with a lasting memory of a wonderful experience.

Communication woes

My employer just did me the great favor of robbing me of a night's sleep. It's the first time they did this since my journey began on July first. Of course, they robbed me of many nights before, because sometimes that's what a job does to a person. But I don't complain, since having a job at all is considered a priviledge these days, thanks to our masterful economists and bankers.

But to have to change ones' communications strategy with 3 days notice is a bit of a present I didn't expect. So I'll be a bit more difficult to contact and getting an internet connection has just moved a whole lot up the list of routine priorities.

As far as lamenting goes, that's about it, considering I'm a bit tired now and desperately in need of some sleep.

Yesterday, we met up with Bernard and Jeanne again and met their son Nicolas. We had a nice time and even though it's a shame Bernard had the accident with his foot, it's fun to meet some of the nice people later on down. They were a bit delayed because of the accident, so we caught up with them in Sesimbra. This is where we'll be for a couple more hours, until after an early morning dive. It'll be my first wreck, so I'm quite looking forward to it.

Along the route, we spent a couple of nights at anchor. One very calm one in Aveiro after a day of motorsailing in dense fog. And one quite bumpy night at Ilhas Berlengas, where the swell worked its way around the island from both South and North, since the wind had changed from South West to North during the evening. But snorkeling the inlet beneath the light house early morning was well worth the lack of sleep. Hundreds of fish, small animals on the rocks, and crystal clear visibility made it a very wonderful experience. I even got to swim through one of the many tunnels through the rocks, albeit a fairly large one since I wasn't so keen on doing the smaller ones on my own.

Ingrid got a very funny T-shirt at a souvenir shop, with drawings of typical fish of the region. I don't like all the Portugal shirts which you see by the hundreds, but this one had Portugal written all over it without mentioning it once.

It even came in a kind of fish-box which obviously makes it a design object and as such it was priced a bit above Portuguese standards.

It's getting a bit foggy outside as well as up here so I'll once more retire to bed to wait for seven when we'll rise and I'll get my diving gear.