Cuan Law, Day 1
We boarded the Cuan Law around noon and soon had a delicious lunch served to us. After lunch, we all did a check out dive. The dive masters, Ollie and Jackie did a very profession job of checking our skills individually and as buddies. Well done. Rob had a snack of yummy meat pies waiting for us when we returned. Every day when we returned from diving he had some kind of snack awaiting. We spent the afternoon watching the crew raise the sails, chatting with the other guests, reading, and lying in hammocks on the deck. That evening's meal was seared tuna and was fabulous. The pineapple creme brulee for dessert...oh my gosh! Our room (#3), private bathroom and bed was very spacious and comfortable. Each room has it's own a/c control which was nice. Hot water was plentiful for showers. A night dive was offered, but we chose to unpack and relax instead. We went to bed early and were immediately rocked to sleep with the motion of the boat and the gentle humming of the generators.
Day 2
We awoke early to the smell of coffee brewing. Rob fixed us a hearty breakfast including fresh baked banana walnut bread. Our first dive, Deep Indians, was nice. We had just OK viz which was to be the theme for the entire week. Another thing you need to know is 99% of the dives take place off of dingys by doing a back roll. The dingy ride throughout the week proved to be difficult because of the high surf. My depth was 84 feet and my dive time was 50 minutes. Temperature was a cool 77 degrees with my shorty wetsuit. We saw all the normal reef fish. Our second dive was Ring Dove Rock. My depth was 55 feet and my dive time was 50 minutes. This was the nicest dive of the trip based on the amount of sea life we saw. Very large lobster and a turtle were the highlights. We had a very lovely rack of lamb for dinner and tiramesu for dessert that was delicious. Our night dive was on the Fearless Wreck. I hate night diving and this one lived up to that. It was on the same wreck we had dived earlier. My depth was 74 feet and my dive time was 30 minutes. Hubby took some nice pics of an eel, a candy cane shrimp and the wreck. Whew! Glad that one was over!!!! We spent a little time in the media room checking out our pictures then watched a movie. Very nice room.
Day 3
Wreck of the Rhone Day. This and the other wrecks are the main attraction for divers to go to the BVIs. The coral and sea life is not as plentiful as other places I have been, but the wrecks are great. Another great breakfast, then Captain Steve had story time...telling us all about how the RMS Rhone hit a rock and sunk in 1867. We geared up and had to use the mooring line to go down because there was a swift current. When I got to the bottom and let go I started slowly rising and grabbed my hubby (and great dive buddy). I thought something was wrong with my equipment but realized I had forgotten to buy my weights in. The crew has us removed our integrated weights so they don't have to lift such heavy equipment and I just forgot to put them in. I motioned to my hubby what had happened and he took me back to the mooring line and I made my way back to the surface slowly. He continued the dive which, in retrospect, he should not have done since he didn't have a buddy and nobody knew that. My second dive was to Lion Rock. My hubby and previously great dive buddy and I had issues on this dive which I won't go into in this report. Suffice to say, $$%# happens sometimes! I have no idea what I saw, what my depth or dive time was. All I know is I was $#%%#$ off, according to my dive journal. Our last dive of the day was of the Rhone Wreck Bow. A lot of interesting life, but the current was so strong I had to finger walk along the bottom to get to it and by the time I did my bottom time was about over. My depth was 62 feet and my dive time was 35 minutes. Dinner was a very nicely prepared Mahi mahi with Rob's specialty which I don't remember the name of, but was a rich, tropical concoction that was delicious. We were exhausted and fell fast asleep.
Day 4
Since my buddy and I had issues the previous day, we decided to take it easy so after another yummy breakfast, we kayaked (Cuan Law has 2, 2-person kayaks and 2 hobie cat sailboats for guests to use) over to Salt Island. Salt Island is where the cemetary where the victims of the Rhone are buried. We snorkeled and hunted for shells and sea glass, hiked over to the cemetary and explored several little salt ponds. Hubby took coconuts he found on the island back to the boat and provided a snack for the crew and guests. They couldn't believe he knew how to open a coconut with just his hands and a rock! He should so on "Survivor". The crew and some of the guests put up the sails and we headed for Cooper Island so we could dive The Tugs. This was one of the most interesting dives of the week. Three tug boats had been sunk on purpose to provide shelter for the sea life. A huge grouper joined us!! My depth was 82 feet for 35 minutes. Very nice dive! We had roasted duck for dinner which was awesome and a very good bread and butter pudding for dessert. Our favorite day so far.
Day 5
After another hearty breakfast, we moved to Rogues Bay and dove Rogues Gallery. Great dive! We spotted a huge lobster and passed over a sand chute which I couldn't resist doing a little 'critter hunting'. I finger walked along the sand bottom looking under the ledges with my flashlight and found what I was looking for...a very nice sized nurse shark. I turned around and signaled to the others I had found a shark (hand placed perpendicular on top or my head) and many got a nice picture of it. Hubby, meanwhile had found another one in a sand chute out in the open. He was signaling to me to come over there and I was signaling to him to come over here...everyone had a good laugh at our expense over that one. Depth 41 feet for 45 minutes. We did another dive called Times Square and saw a reef shark and lots of fish. The underwater topography was the cool part of this dive, however. Huge boulders abound at this dive site! My depth was 63 for 35 minutes. Very surgy. We skipped the night dive again and had a delicious meal of tenderloin and a yummy and rich chocolate mousse. Early to bed again.
Day 6
We moved to Lee Bay and dove The Maze. Tons of swim thrus on this dive were fun because finally no current or surge! Yeah!!! Depth 43 feet for 46 minutes. We then ate breakfast and moved to Virgin Gorda where we went ashore for a BBQ. Very fun, starting with cocktails and chatting with the other guests, then Rob's fabulous BBQ. We did the Bath Walk and took tons of pictures of the huge boulders. We then sailed to Trellis Bay and went to the Festival. Everyone had a great time listening to the local musicians and purchasing locally made crafts. We had a super fun evening with the other guests, watching an awesome photo presentation by Bruce, one of the guests, and having our final delicious dinner of stuffed chicken with the finale, banana crepes for desserts. Slept like a baby.
Day 7
Packing, settling our bill, declined the final dive, got everyone's email addresses, ate breakfast and were off the boat by 9 am. Our car was not there, but someone from the agency was there to pick us up and take us to our car. No problem. We picked it up, filled out the paper work and took off for Cane Garden Bay where we were staying for our final days on Tortola. That trip report will be detailed in Part 7.
