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I came across this website during my daily wandering in the BVI cybersphere today. It tells the tale of a venereable old steel hull sailboat they plan to sink as an artifical reef in the BVI this Fall. http://www.windjammerflyingcloud.com/

The name of the vessel is the Flying Cloud. She plucked a few heartstrings for me because she last sailed as a Windjammer cruise boat in the BVI in 2002 -the same year a catamaran trip inspired me to work towards a bareboat there. She shared an anchorage near us a couple of times and we have a memorable backlit sunshot photo as part of our DVD.

Built originally for the French Navy in 1935 she has been a cadet trainer, a spy ship during WWII, a cargo vessel, and, since 1968, a member of the WindJammer fleet. Although she has a colorful past, her next assignment will find her arrayed in all the splendor of the deep, because this October she is scheduled to go to her final anchorage on the bottom between Ginger and Cooper Islands.

I look forward to visiting her through a mask in future years, she should live to make as many memories below the islands as she did around them.