Trip report: British Virgin Islands

[TSandM]

April 2nd through April 8th, my husband and I, along with three other couples, toured the BVI on a crewed 50' catamaran, the Liahona. This is a synopsis of the trip:

Cast of characters: There were eight of us, all from the Seattle area. Two had just completed their OW dives in Tortola the day before the trip. One had done OW last fall and had one total dive since certification. Two had about twenty or thirty dives, and my husband and I were at about 100. We therefore had a wide range of inexperience. The captain of the boat is a PADI instructor with over 2000 dives in the Caribbean, and his fiance also dives, although she did only one dive with us.

Home base: The boat was a 50' catamaran. Accomodations were four staterooms with double beds and private heads. There was a lot of storage space in the cabins -- we didn't use it all. Cabins had their own DVD players, and there was a big screen in the saloon, which we used to review photographs and watch dive videos. There was also a nice Bose music system, into which various people plugged their iPods, resulting in a truly eclectic music collection.

The boat was plenty big enough for the eight of us and quite comfortable and attractive. Lying on the trampolines in the bow while under sail was a kick. It didn't seem quite right to be on a sailing vessel that didn't heel over, though The food was superb, ranging from filet mignon with a red wine sauce to Caribbean lobsters and rack of lamb. Desserts were awesome -- every time I swore I wasn't going to eat any more of them, Tracy came up with something else I couldn't resist. Wine flowed freely, and we got introduced to a "Dark and Stormy", which is a mixture of Jamaican ginger beer and dark rum which is absolutely lethal.

Dive gear was stored set up and tied to the lifelines aft on both sides of the boat. Fins had a locker, as did weights, and masks, booties, spools, SMBs, snorkels and assorted other diving detritus was supposed to live in large baskets but in practice often got spread out over the deck. The boat has 8 Al80's which live in dedicated lockers, and it has a compressor which was not working properly or at all during our trip. The crew therefore rented an additional 8 tanks, and we had to overnight or at least stop each day somewhere where tanks could be filled. This was unfortunate in some ways by constraining our logistics, but fortunate in another, because the compressor requires a half hour to fill a tank (four hours for a set of eight) and it would have been challenging to try to get in two dives a day, every day, with that impediment.

The diving: We did two dives a day most days (11 total on the trip). We would usually have breakfast at our overnight anchorage, then sail or motor to the first dive site. All the dives sites were on mooring buoys. Gordon would give us the dive briefing as we suited up. There were then a number of options for getting in the water. Gordon would have liked us all to get in the water and have our gear thrown to us, but only one person routinely took that option. Most of us geared up on the steps and did a side roll into the water. It was also possible to don gear on the aft deck and giant stride into the water, but only Gordon did that. It took quite a while to get the whole group into the water, which was only a problem where there was significant current or disturbed surface (only a couple of sites).

Getting out of the water required doffing gear and handing it up, as the ladders on the boat are not sturdy enough to support the repeated stress of divers climbing out with their tanks on. It was good practice, and to my knowledge, nobody tried to remove their gear without removing their necklaced secondary first . . .

On almost all the sites, we were the only group. Once or twice there was one other bunch of divers, and only at the Rhone were there several other boats. It made for very relaxing diving. On all the sites that required any significant navigation, Gordon led the dive. Most of the time, he was fine with me and Peter going off on our own, and coming up when we were ready. On a couple of the simple sites, he gave us the briefing and had me and Peter ride herd on the rest of the divers. It was my first time doing this, and I got to be in both the lead and cleanup positions. It was very interesting, and quite a learning experience. We did one night dive, where I learned that a 21W can light is WAY too much light for clear water at night.

 

[Dave Zimmerly]

Thanks for the report. How healthy are the reefs? Some news report major bleaching.

Dave (aka "Squirt")

 

[TSandM]

The dives:

The Indians This is a group of rocks that protrude from the surface, just off Pelican Island. The dive circumnavigates the rock grouping, which includes exploring little fissures and hollows in the rocks as you go. Depth was fairly shallow, with a maximum of 45 feet and an average of 23. The scenery was beautiful, with dense growths of hard and soft corals, many brightly colored sponges, as well as a number of types of gorgonians. Many of the sea fans had one or more flamingo tongue nudibranchs, which are lovely with their leopard spots. We ran into a black-tipped reef shark here, which unnerved our novice divers. The highlight of the dive for me was a small cave, about six or eight feet in diameter and about twelve feet or so long, which was filled with squirrelfish and silversides which brilliantly reflected my light.

Toward the end of the dive, Peter and I had fallen behind the other divers and were exploring the corals, when Peter threw an OOA at me. We did the drill, and when I took my primary reg back, it began to leak hugely from the junction of the hose and the second stage. I recognized the problem, and I knew that I couldn't just screw the hose back on under pressure, because it would slice the o-ring. So I went on Peter's long hose and we turned off my valve and proceeded to surface without incident. So nice to have practiced these things until they are just simply routine. (Had we not been at the end of the dive, we could have turned my valve off and tightened the connection and gone on.)

Painted Walls This is a rocky ridge off Dead Chest Island which has several box canyons in it. The sides of the canyons are generously encrusted with brilliantly colored sponges. The last canyon goes up the ridge and terminates in a shallow pool full of corals and gorgonians, where turtles are often to be found (none were there when we were). This is apparently a site which is current sensitive, and we were lucky to have a dead calm day to dive it.

On this dive, we saw a great variety of fish, including a spotted drum, a large barracuda, several trunkfish and trumpet fish, and a nurse shark about 6 or 7 feet long.

Max depth on this dive was 45 feet, with an average of 30, and we were down 69 minutes. Peter and I had again gone off on our own, and were about fifteen minutes later than the rest in surfacing. As we started our ascent, I shot a bag, which Gordon was glad of because he then knew where we were.

The Fearless This was the first wreck dive of the trip. The Fearless was a 100' wooden boat which was sunk in 1985 to provide an artificial reef, and lies just outside the Great Harbour at Peter Island. The wreck lies on sandy bottom, and off the bow was a good-sized field of garden eels. The boat is heavily encrusted in corals and sponges, and beautiful painted tunicates that resemble bluebells. In the protection afforded by the structures hide many squirrelfish, and we saw Queen Angelfish here, too.

Max depth on this dive was 79 feet, with an average of 49, and a duration of 59 minutes. Conditions were very calm, and the visibility was about 40 or 50 feet.

Coral Gardens This was a shallow site composed of a strip of reef absolutely covered with spectacular corals of many different shapes and colors. This site had barrel sponges and tube sponges and encrusting sponges, sea fans and other gorgonians, and tons of reef fish. There were lots of opportunities to watch cleaning behaviors. Peter was leading this dive and towing his SMB as a dive flag, and I was diving "cleanup".

Toward the end of the dive, I sent one pair up because they were low on air, and had to corral another pair who had done an air-share drill and gotten separated from Peter. I sent them up as well, which left me . . . gasp . . . ALONE. I was directly under the boat, in about 30 feet of water, and I knew in what direction Peter and Paul had gone, so I swam along that way, hoping to see their bubbles. After a minute or two it was clear that I wasn't going to find them, so I made my way back to the buoy line. But I have to admit I didn't hurry, and spent time exploring the coral heads and enjoying the relaxation of having nobody to worry about but me. I surfaced leisurely, and Peter and Paul came up about five minutes later. This was my first "solo diving" experience, and I can absolutely see why people would do it, even though I felt quite guilty about it

Max depth on this dive was 28 feet, and I was down 53 minutes.

 

[smokey braden]

tsandm,
thank you for your trip report.
my wife and i have charted private yachts in the bvi's 3 times.
it has always been a perfect holiday.
regards,

 

[TSandM]

HMS Rhone - Bow No diving trip to the BVI is complete without diving the Rhone. This 310' mail steamer went down on rocks in 1867 during a hurricane, and came to rest in three parts just off Salt Island. This is the wreck made famous by the movie "The Deep". The bow section lies in about 80' of water, lying on its starboard side. The hull has been cut out so that there is a very easy swim-through with spectacular views of the sunlight coming in through the deck.

The interior of the ship is full of noctural fish species, and serves as a home for ENORMOUS lobsters. You can swim out through the hatch that Jacqueline Bisset comes out of in the movie. Around the hull are many reef fish, including French Angelfish, which are stunning.

This was a challenging dive. Our first clue was when, after picking up the mooring ball, Gordon hung a downline with 12 pounds of weight on it and it streamed out at about a 45 degree angle to the surface. We decided the current was a bit much and it would be better to wait a half hour or so, and it was a wise decision. Another group got blown completely off their boat, and when we surfaced from our dive, we discovered them on the stern of the Liahona, awaiting their dinghy. Even after waiting, we had to descend hand over hand down the buoy line, and stay clever to avoid the worst of the current. It was a good experience in how staying low and making use of the wreck and natural features can make it possible to dive in the face of a lot of moving water. All of our novice divers did great on this one! Our ascent was done hand-over-hand up the buoy line, and I felt just like a flag pennant as I hung on for dear life. Max depth was 75 feet, with an average of 54, and the dive was short at 35 minutes as a result of the current.

HMS Rhone -- midsection and stern The stern of the boat lies in shallower water and is more damaged. This was the spectacular dive for sea life, as the structures are heavily encrusted in corals and sponges. Lobsters hide under the beams, and the swim-through under the propeller is encrusted in spectacular sponges, as well as serving for a hideout for many nocturnal fish. The prop is HUGE and gives one a real sense of the original size of the ship. At one point, you can still see the original black-and-white tiles from the ship's galley. You can also see the drive shaft, which is also enormous.

The midsection of the ship shows the remaining supports for the original decking.

This dive was amazing in part because it was DEAD calm, just a couple of hours after our beating from the bow section dive. Max depth was 69 feet, with an average of 37, and a duration of 51 minutes.

 

[darkpup]

Ok, I'm officially jealous. Ugh... the thought of warm water diving is usually enough, but warm water sailing and diving.... You've managed to combine our two most favorite hobbies. We've often discussed chartering a catamaran or mono hull for a few days, and seeing if we could get some diving in to boot. We're even looking to do some Bay Area and possible coastal trips from S.F. to Monterey this spring to improve our sailing skills. Not sure if Janeane will be up for it, but I should be able to crew on a boat or two before the baby gets here.

Thanks for the write up. One more dive trip to add to the list.

~ Jason

 

[TSandM]

The Aquarium This was another shallow, coral garden dive, known for its variety of fish. I led this dive, which was another first for me. We took things very slowly and looked in all the nooks and crannies, and were well rewarded for it. We found such things as peacock flounder, honeycombed cowfish, filefish, a red sanddiver, and a black headed goby the name of which I've forgotten. There were many nudibranchs here as well. We also saw one of the only sea cucumbers of the whole trip here. It always surprises me to go to the tropics and see so few echinoderms and crustaceans. We Puget Sounders get to the point where we don't even spend time LOOKING at the starfish, cucumbers and crabs, so it's a surprise when they just aren't there.

One of the group decided to deploy his newly purchased SMB as the dive flag for this dive, and he learned that it's not as easy as it looks, either to deploy a bag or to manage one once you have done so -- line is sneaky stuff and loves fins!

The Chikuzen This was the dive I really wanted to do on this trip. The Chikuzen was a 246' refrigerator/fish processing ship which was set afire and adrift in the teeth of a hurricane in 1981. It drifted much further than the owners expected, ending up off Virgin Gorda. It's an interesting dive, because it's out in the middle of nowhere with no protection, and the dive shops generally don't go there. It's the only major feature for some distance, and therefore has become a haven for huge schools of fish, as well as attracting pelagics like sharks and rays. It's a dive site which is very dependent on ocean conditions, both current and surface swells, and we were again lucky to be able to do it.

On our arrival at the ship, we were treated to the sight of two spotted eagle rays cruising by -- a third visited us at the end of the dive. The holds are full of squirrelfish and silversides, and the sides of the ship are inhabited by swirling schools of snappers, schoolmasters and grunts. There was a turtle contentedly munching sponges on the starboard hull who seemed not at all perturbed to be inspected by eight divers. My buddy Paul and I floated quietly right into the middle of a big school of grunts -- that's one of my favorite things to do. The sand around the ship held a large group of garden eels, as well as at least one stingray. This was really an amazing and delightful dive.

Diamond Reef This was our night dive, right off the back of the boat in our evening anchorage at the Bitter End at the north end of Virgin Gorda. A shallow reef, it was easy navigation. We did run into one other group of divers, and this dive was spiced up by our dive leader losing his tank not once, but TWICE! In consideration of our novice divers, we went in at dusk, so we didn't see a lot of nocturnal animals, but we were treated to a large sponge crab, holding his sponge "hat" in a vain attempt to remain unnoticed. We saw quite a few shrimp, but the highlight of this dive was as we were swiming back to the boat, over a grassy sand bottom, and found a goldenspotted moray, which is apparently an unusual find. I did learn on this dive that a 21W Salvo is brutal overkill for clear water night diving -- nothing that likes nighttime is going to stay in the beam of that light, and even completely defocused, I lit up an area about the size of a two car garage!

Alice in Wonderland This is another coral garden site, remarkable for very large coral heads that really do resemble the Disney ride. The reef lies at the bottom of a steep rock face on the west end of Ginger Island. We were lucky to be the only boat there. The colors and shapes of corals, sponges and gorgonians were the major attraction here. There were remarkably few fish, which is something Gordon says he's always wondered about, since the richness of other life seems as though it ought to support more. Max depth here was 79 feet, with an average of 51, and a duration of 51 minutes.

The Marie L and Pat These are two ships that were sunk to provide artificial reef. The original plan was not to have them one on top of another, but a small error was made in the sinking, and that's how they ended up. A third ship was more recently sunk nearby, the Bertha. None of these has been down long enough to be heavily encrusted in corals or sponges, but there were many fish in the superstructures. The end of the dive was spent poking around the reef directly below the boat, which was a nice way to finish off.

All in all, we had a great week of diving, with a variety of sites and conditions. Gordon did a fabulous job of selecting good places to go and getting us there at the right time. There was not a single mishap beyond a few stubbed toes and bruised bottoms from sliding down the stern steps. Our group is already plotting next year's trip!

 

[Darnold9999]

Great report, thanks.

My buddy from Ohio was a little put off when he found a starfish on the last dive off Belize and I wasn't particularly interested.

I sent him this picture

 

[Matteo]

WOW, what a great and thorough report! Not to mention the excellent photos. Looks like a great and relaxing time was had by all. I may just have to move this trip up a couple of notches on my must-do list.

 

[Cacia]

Enjoyed seeing my old stompin' grounds so much! Really nice report and looks like a wonderful time. Did Peter take any macro? Did you see the big Grey Angels at the Rhone? Did you moore near The Baths?