The day began, as have the previous ones, rather early due to my back issues while supine. Nonetheless I got a lot done while the generator was running – dishwasher, laundry, watermaker and filling up both dive tanks to capacity for a dive later in the day. Once the morning chores and breakfast were taken care of, I left the sheltered waters of Norman Island with reefs in both sails for the tack up to Salt Island and the dive site of the wreck of the Rhone.
The sail was quite sedate and comfortable at 4-5 knots until I realized I was being far too conservative (and that a Bénéteau 49 was catching up with me) so I let out all the genoa and then managed to pull away from the other boat. I crossed tacks with the other Jeanneau 57 in the BVI that I know of, also sold through the same dealer in Annapolis and named “Pregnanseas” (the owner is a gynecologist).
I had some issues picking up the mooring ball, the first run was just right but for some reason I couldn’t lift the mooring ball painter, the float had lodged itself in the bow thruster channel opening! The second attempt was better and after settling down I got the dive gear ready in preparation for the first of two dives upon the wreck. Entry into the water was easy, then I had to do a quick dive underneath the boat as the boarding ladder had been knocked away by the dinghy and it was now in 40 feet of water underneath my keel.
I swam on the surface with the camera in hand and descended upon the wreck, only to find that somehow I had switched the camera into a mode where it wouldn’t auto-focus and thus all the nice shots I got were so out of focus as to be unusable. Despite those issues the dive was nice with acceptable visibility despite the rather big swell topsides. After finishing with the shallow portion of the dive I swam back to the boat underwater (I’m actually proud of having navigated back successfully first time around) and then came the chore of getting all that equipment back onto the dive platform.
Once I’d washed off the gear and prepared to go below to make some lunch a charter boat approached and took the mooring next to mine. These two moorings were very close together and we both looked at our swinging room and the others thought it would be alright and took off for some snorkeling over the wreck. After they motored off there was one swing that took the 2 boats very close so I quickly got everything squared away and released – opting to do my second dive some other time.
The sail from Salt up to the entrance of the North Sound was done on a single tack, the wind was strong but the waves weren’t too high so I had a fantastic upwind stretch at 8-9 knots despite having reefed. I did have to head out quite far in order to get a good angle on the channel but the conditions were so much fun that I didn’t mind at all. I anchored off Prickly Pear and let the rest of the day just sort of slide by, making some baked potatoes and spicy Spanish sausages for dinner.
 |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |