| With over four hundred years of ocean traffic going | | | | about twenty feet of water, easily discernible from the |
| through its balmy waterways, it would be remarkable if | | | | surface but harder to recognize from up close. |
| the waters around the British Virgin Islands did not hold | | | | The Chikuzen |
| some. Fortunately for the devoted diver, you'll find | | | | Not as venerable as the Rhone, the Chikuzen was |
| several charming old wrecks here, filled with darting | | | | sunk in 1981. This ship was part of a Korean fishing |
| fish and crusted with corals and barnacles. | | | | fleet ported out of St. Maarten, but was damaged in a |
| The Wreck of the Rhone | | | | storm and moored at a port. When she caused |
| Off Salt Island, the RMS Rhone went down in 1867 | | | | damage to the docks, the owners decided to tow her |
| during a terrible hurricane. This beautiful ship was one | | | | out to sea and set her on fire in an attempt to scuttle. |
| of the first iron ships, and was outfitted with both sails | | | | But the Chikuzen did not scuttle easily. Instead, she |
| and steam for power. She lies on her side in twenty to | | | | drifted for miles out to sea, finally coming close to |
| eighty feet of water, making exploration possible for | | | | beaching herself on Marina Cay. |
| either snorkelers or divers. | | | | Towed away from this little island, she finally sank |
| After more than a century below the sea, the Rhone | | | | about 12 miles northwest of Virgin Gorda, and today |
| is covered in barnacles, corals, and sponges, giving her | | | | represents an excellent dive, though in 75 feet of |
| a colorful, almost jaunty appearance. Schools of fish | | | | sometimes-rough water it is unwise to attempt the |
| dart in and out of her body, and she's now the home | | | | dive alone. If you're diving to the Chikuzen with a good |
| of a vibrant ecosystem that has developed around her | | | | dive guide or instructor, you'll get to enjoy the many |
| different parts. | | | | shoals of fish who congregate to this, the only cover |
| The Rhone is famous as the set for many different | | | | on the ocean bottom for miles: stingray, eagle ray, |
| movies, including The Deep. It's easy to find the hatch | | | | barracuda, snapper, nurse sharks, and many others. It's |
| that was featured prominently in this film, and | | | | also fun to watch the slowly-developing coral and |
| swimming through it gives divers access to the | | | | sponges as they begin their inexorable colonization of |
| fascinating and well-lit interior of the ship. A little | | | | the shipwreck, turning it from something made by man |
| distance away, the Rhone's gigantic propeller sits in | | | | into a living and breathing ecosystem. |