Marie L, a confiscated drug runner and the Pat, a tugboat, were sunk on purpose as part of an on going artificial reef programs in the BVI. They sit in 80' of water and are touching each other...which makes for some interesting perspectives! The site is covered in tiny garden eels and, as promised, a number of rays were hunkered down in the sand.

This is the Atlantic Air BVI's 360. This plane, after aborting on take off..on the Airlines MAIDEN flight(!) landed in the water. No one was hurt and the airplane was recovered and stored in a hanger. It was pulled out for a BBC film and eventually had the wings and tail removed and was sunk at the Coral Gardens dive site as an artificial reef.

The RMS Rhone. Easily the oldest wreck I've ever dove and one of the few that wasn't done on purpose. It's history and demise is long and involved and I recommend doing some reading on it if interested. This is a short version: The RMS Rhone was a British Packet Ship (mail ship) that ran between England, the Carribean and Central and South America. It was in port in the BVI in October of 1867 when the islands were hit with a hurricane. The ship survived the first half of the storm but the captian worried about being hit when the second half hit (the anchor had dragged pretty badly) so opted to steam out of port for the open sea. The second half of the storm hit them just as they were passing Black Rock (a huge rock outcropping) and crushed the boat onto it. The sea water rushed into the boat, hit the red-hot boilers which caused them to explode. Of the 140-180 (it was carrying an unknown number of passengers) people on board, only 23 people survived.

The age of the wreck becomes very self-evident when you realize how much coral has grown on it.

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