Page Contents
Cooper Island
Cooper Island Beach
Club
Ginger Island
Manchioneel Bay
Salt Island
Villas
Wreck of the Rhone
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COOPER
& SALT ISLANDS
Life in paradise:
Beach clubs and dive wrecks
 Cooper Island. A
tropical island out of a Hollywood script,
mostly uninhabited Cooper Island is surrounded by coral
reefs and dive sites, the vegetation on
Cooper Island includes coconut palms,
bougainvilla, frangipani,
lime trees, hibiscus, oleander, tamarind, flamboyant,
loblolly, yucca, orchids, and cactus.
Manchioneel
Bay. Known for the tree with
poisonous, small green apples by that name,
Manchioneel Bay is formed by a beautiful
stretch of sand beach. It is a popular
cruising destination for a day stop as well
as anchoring overnight, although patches of sea grass
may prevent firm holding. Also, moorings
are available. See photo
collage (credit: Jere Lull).
The sea grass
in Manchioneel Bay is interesting to snorkel. Look
for green turtles, sting and eagle rays and a large
Queen
Conch bed. Keep a lookout for
boat traffic.
Also, Manchioneel
Bay is said to be the inspiration for Jimmy Buffet's
famous "Cheeseburger in Paradise"
(some of you may hear Jimmy's plaintive cry, 'Boat
drinks, waitress, I need two more boat drinks,'
echoing across the bay (hit refresh to re-echo) as he
worked on the composition) (hear more Island Music
here).
 Cooper Island
Beach Club. This unique
and popular club (email
494-2749 ) is also located here--a quintessential
beach scene. Limited ferry service
($10 per person one way, free to Beach Club guests)
from Road
Town's Prospect Reef resort marina
(4-3311) is available on Monday at 2 PM and Wednesday
and Friday at 11 AM. Trips to Prospect Reef at 7 AM
the same days. Special pick-ups are available at
extra cost.
 The Cooper Island Beach
Club's restaurant is a great
spot for open-air dining looking out over the
boats at anchor--I can smell that
food beginning to grill! Click to
see the menu.>>. Try
their conch fritters, great pasta,
local fish, veal marsala, and beef
curry.
The Seagrape Boutique
offers souvenirs and sundries including Cooper Island t-shirts.
The
Cooper Island Beach Club has airy,
open plan accommodations
which are comfortable and affordable and include kitchettes
housed in West Indian style dwellings (photo credit: Dawson
site).
 Villas.
The
Beach House below and
The
Hideaway on left, with the
great view to Manchioneel Bay, are affordable
villas on Cooper Island.
Formidable looking
boulders near the Beach Club ensure privacy,
but the not-so-bad climb really adds some fun to a
short-and-scenic stroll along the shore to reach the
villas.
In a modern
version of Robinson Crusoe, rain water is
collected in large cisterns and pumped by gasoline
engines to header tanks. Gas stoves empower fully
equipped kitchens and solar electric systems enable
lights, fans and hot water. All the essentials of
contemporary Caribbean civilization are here-- cassette/CD
players, charcoal grills and outdoor showers.
:)
 From
the Beach House's dock, snorkel the boulders
between the Bay and Point, and look for various sea
urchins and a large resident octopus
which favors Queen Conch handouts (see
report).
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Diving
and Snorkeling.
At the heart of a diving and snorkeling
paradise
formed by the line of small islands
marking the southern boundary of the Sir Francis
Drake Channel, Cooper Island, together with Salt
Island and Ginger Island on each side, has 11 of
the 50 or so best known sites in the BVI,
including the Wreck of The Rhone,
Alice in Wonderland and Cistern Point. |
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Cistern
Point extends as a rocky
point and coral reef ridge
off Cooper Island and out to a rock by that name.
Both a great snorkeling site and sensational
shallow dive site at the southern end of
Manchioneel Bay, Cistern Point has a dinghy
mooring (a rope tied between two
moorings) easily accessible to boaters who want
to dinghy over. A great site for freedivers
as well. Devil's
Kitchen, on
Cooper's windward side is a series of ridges with
chambers, caves and coral with
lots of lobsters, some morays, and even a shark
sighting possible. Other dive sites include the Thumb
Rock, Markoe Point, and
the Pat and Marie
L dive wrecks.
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Cistern
Point
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Cistern Point is noted for its
photogenic
ledges covered with brilliant corals,
flowing gorgonians (such as the sea rod
and sea fan seen here)
and abundant tropical fish
often
in groups like grey snappers and blue
tang on top of the ridge (photo: Dawson
site).
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 Sail
Caribbean Divers has a dive operation
(and a nice boutique) shown at the left with
dive-lodging
packages with the Cooper Island Beach
Club.
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Nearby
Ginger Island.
Located here is the mythical
Alice in Wonderland
dive site. Stands of mushroom-shaped coral
twice the size of a person
form a fantasy world of mazes, with blue cromis, butterfly fish,
and other exotic creatures flitting amidst a
magical scene of purple and
green seafans, pillar coral and gorgonians. See
ScubaMom's
map for exact location. |
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Black and white
vertically-striped sergeant
majors
swim amidst a riot of color! |
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 Salt Island.
Nearby Salt Island is named for its salt ponds, but is most famous
as the location of a ship wreck.
Also, Salt Island
tours are available from the Settlement at Salt
Island Bay to see the salt ponds, once an important
source of salt for the British Royal Navy.
See Salt
Island: A Tradition Maintained. Here is an island recipe
for seasoned salt.
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The Wreck of
The Rhone is
one of the most famous dive sites in the world. Located off Salt Island, the
R.M.S Rhone (Royal Mail Steamer) went down in 1867 in
a hurricane (above is the first complete photo of the bow section:
Jim Scheiner).
 One
of the first iron ships built, The Rhone
still had the graceful lines of a sailing ship, while outfitted
as a sail-steamer from the early days of these ships
(photo: Rhone
Museum).
The
Rhone lies on a reef
in 20-80 feet of water so diving to various
depths or snorkeling is optional.
National Parks Trust moorings
are available (anchoring is not permitted as
the Rhone is a national marine park) and, if
none are available, anchor at the Settlement or
nearby Lee Bay and use the dingy mooring.
 "Awash"
in schools of friendly fish, the Wreck of The Rhone is a great dive,
fully encrusted for over a century in corals and sponges. The bow,
pictured above, lies in about 70' of water. Support
beams for the horizontal deck lie on their sides--the
famous "Greek columns" so often photographed.
 The
Wreck of The Rhone is most famous as the film site for the movie, "The Deep," starring Jacqueline Bisset. The hatch
which played a prominent role in the movie, makes an fabulous entry to this
"treasure
ship" for divers, who can transit the well-lit interior easily
(photo: Mainsail Yacht
Charters).
 The
stern has a massive propeller (15' across) that lies in 25' of water.
Her propeller is so enormous that it is more likely to be
recognized by a snorkeler from the surface than a diver up
close at depth due to
its huge size (photo:
UBS Dive Center).
 Diving and
Snorkeling. Off Salt Island is
Rhone Reef, Blonde Rock
and the colorful, current-bathed Vanishing
Rocks. Here French Grunts school in a
u-shaped tunnel at Blonde Rock (ScubaMom).
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