Rhone Question

[3boyzmom]

We're newly certified- just finished our open water dives in Monterey, CA- it was 47 degrees at 39 feet. Anyways...we're scheduled to dive the Rhone later this month, but I've been hearing a lot about current at the site, and since we're new to this, I didn't want to bite off more than we could chew, or get in way above our abilities. We did just fine on our certification- didn't have any real problems at all, other than I have a tendancy to roll to the right for some reason.

Any thoughts? Anything in particular we should be careful of? Obviously, we want to do the dive since we'll be there, but not if it isn't safe for us.

[Babster]

I did my Discover Scuba dive on the Rhone (lucky me!! )

I remember them mentioning a bit of current at times near the deeper bow portion during the dive brief, but I (of course) didn't dive that part. There was no current on the shallow stern section.

Here's some info on the site (one of many):
BVI Dive Site: RMS Rhone

[Zenagirl]

Ditto what Babster said about the current. We had a little current (nothing to worry about) on the bow section but the stern was like diving in a swimming pool. GREAT dive and GREAT wreck, especially when you consider her age.

[CamaroChick]

Interesting - on my dive on the Rhone last June, there was no current on the bow section and it was easy to swim into the ship. But swimming over to the stern (we did the whole wreck on one tank), there was a moderate current that made it difficult for me to stay down and swim into the stern section. I'm sure it just depends on the day. We did an afternoon dive, so that could have made a difference too.

Don't worry at all about it though - I'm still a newbie (20 some dives total) and am not wreck certified either! The ship is very open and you can always see light, so if you're up for the swim-throughs, they are worth it! There's a resident turtle in the bow section

Not sure if you've chosen a dive op yet, but I highly highly recommend Dive BVI - they were AWESOME!!

[Panchita]

Originally Posted by CamaroChick

Interesting - on my dive on the Rhone last June, there was no current on the bow section and it was easy to swim into the ship. But swimming over to the stern (we did the whole wreck on one tank), there was a moderate current that made it difficult for me to stay down and swim into the stern section. I'm sure it just depends on the day. We did an afternoon dive, so that could have made a difference too.

Don't worry at all about it though - I'm still a newbie (20 some dives total) and am not wreck certified either! The ship is very open and you can always see light, so if you're up for the swim-throughs, they are worth it! There's a resident turtle in the bow section

Not sure if you've chosen a dive op yet, but I highly highly recommend Dive BVI - they were AWESOME!!

What a difference a month (or five) make, huh? Both times I was there were Novemeber/December, so maybe that has something to do with the current we experienced (yes on the bow, none on the stern) - maybe not! The first time I did the swim-through, I was probably at about 50 dives and got a big case of the creepies half way through - I was the first one out! The second time around I made myself stop mid-point and breath - much better. I like looking at wrecks, but it's a bit like dancing in a graveyard to me, so I get the willies when I'm inside.

BVI is just a beautiful area of the world - enjoy!

[3boyzmom]

Thank you...I'm feeling a little better about this now. Like I said, we did dive in Monterey- there was a little current, but not much by Monterey standards.

We're scheduled to dive with Sail Caribbean Divers. I saw some great posts on cruisecritic.com's boards from fellow divers, and they were also willing to work with our cruise schedule. We are using 1 of the 2 dives for our wreck dive adventure dive towards our open water, so we'll actually have our own instructor for just the 2 of us instead of being with a larger group. It only cost an extra $50, which I figured would buy me some piece of mind anyways. I'm just a firm believer that you need to do things that are within your abilities- and diving is no different. I'm happy to hear someone did it as their discover scuba dive!!

Thanks again. Can hardly wait.