Dive Report: Fantastico Date: Saturday/Sunday February 10-11, 2001 Boat: Ultimate Getaway Captain: Rick By: Mike Rodriguez A team of four Association of Underwater Explorers (AUE) divers dove the Roatan Express off the dive boat Ultimate Getaway out of Ft. Myers Saturday. Later that same evening we pulled up to the site of the Fantastico and found a jugline already in place. We used it to set up our own line and drop anchor, then three of the four AUE team members aboard geared up for a quick night-dive on the wreck before bedtime; the fourth AUE diver didn't care for a wetsuit night dive in the 61F water for some odd reason. :) Conditions for the weekend were forecast at up to seven foot seas, but we found nothing bigger than two feet all weekend and on this dive, it was totally flat. The other 11 divers on the boat chose not to do a night dive so the three of us had the wreck to ourselves. I dove trimix 30/20/50 with 100% oxygen for decompression. The Fantastico was a 200 foot long Honduran freighter. It sank 40 miles off Ft. Myers during the "Storm of the Century" on March 13, 1993 taking seven crew members to their death. The ship landed on its starboard side 115 feet down. The hull was mangled by the impact with the sea floor, but the bow is intact as is the wheelhouse. The ship is host to an enormous amount of sea life including dozens of jewfish. The three-member AUE team dropped into the dark water and swam to the floatball, then headed down the line. The visibility was about 50 feet. At about 70 feet down I spotted some of the rigging of the ship. We continued down to the sand and landed near the wheelhouse. I attached a strobe to the line about 20 feet off the bottom, then began exploring. My buddy immediately swam into the wheelhouse, his eye on the ship's telegraph. I stuck around nearby and grinned at the racket he made as he attacked the telegraph. After a while, my buddy gave up and met me forward of the bridge. As we swam around, we spotted a very clean, white line and both swam toward it. We followed it to a chain then to a new Danforth anchor with a new stainless steel shackle. Everything was very clean and couldn't have been underwater more than a few days. Between the three of us we coiled up the line and attached a liftbag to the anchor, then we swam it to the floatline. Our time was almost up, so we decided to leave the wreck. Due to the short bottom time, we had no deco obligation, but we did a safety stop for several minutes on 100% oxygen anyway. At the surface we swam the liftbag with the anchor back to the boat and boarded. A while later, we were in our bunks sleeping, and the following morning we were up again and getting into our gear while breakfast was served. The four of us splashed in together and were on the bottom within seconds. Two of the guys went to work on the reluctant telegraph. I could hear them pounding on it as I toured the wreck. I swam aft enjoying the clouds of fish all around. One curious jewfish swam slowly over the sand about 20 feet from the wreck. I shined my light at it which apparently startled it; it suddenly took off across the sand in a puff of silt. I was impressed by how quickly such a huge fish could move. Further aft I saw another large jewfish with the tail of another fish, possibly a jack, sticking out of its mouth. It bit off more than it could chew and was lumbering along with a few inches of the hapless fish sticking out of its mouth as it tried to swallow it. I watched the jewfish for a few minutes to see what it would do, but it just sat there as if waiting to digest the head of the fish before completing the swallowing operation. I left the jewfish to its meal and rounded the stern of the Fantastico to swim along the keel. Half-way to the bow section, I ran across the jugline that we'd found already marking the wreck when we arrived the previous night. I pulled the weight out of the sand and placed it on top of the wreck for easy retrieval later, then I continued forward. Jewfish of all sizes greeted me every few feet. There were so many it's hard to believe the species is threatened. Rounding the bow of the ship I started aft again stopping to look in a large storage compartment filled with thick mooring lines. Back at the wheelhouse, I met up with my buddies who were still incessantly beating up the ship's telegraph. I assisted by shining my HID light where they were working and smiled when the difficult artifact finally came free. My buddy attached a liftbag and I helped bring the assembly outside where we attached a second liftbag and added enough gas to render the whole thing only slightly negative. Next we swam to the floatline and started up carefully controlling the buoyancy of the telegraph. Near the surface, we released it and let it float attached to the line on the surface. Unfortunately, one of the Halcyon liftbags began leaking at the top seam and as it lost buoyancy, the telegraph started down the line. I like the design of these liftbags, but the company has a quality control problem with the RF welded seams. This was my *third* Halcyon liftbag to fail in a year and I have first-hand knowledge of several others that have failed in the same way. The people at Halcyon are always willing to replace the liftbag, and they've been responsive to my complaints. Hopefully, they'll work out the problems soon. Anyway, after our deco was complete, we swam the telegraph back to the boat and boarded. Everyone relaxed during the surface interval as we waited for lunch which was unfortunately running late. Rather than wait, we geared up and jumped back in for our final dive. My buddy and I planned to enter the Fantastico's engine room but as we reached the opening and prepared to enter, his light failed due to a dead battery. My other buddy had already placed a line into the engine room so I entered following the line and met up with him inside. I spent several minutes looking around then exited as he returned to the daylight area. I swam the length of the ship twice and enjoyed myself watching some of the other divers on the boat spearfish. Several large snappers and assorted other fish were shot. Eventually, the AUE team returned to the line for a brief decompression, then we boarded the boat and had lunch while the rest of the divers finished their dives. We were headed home by 2pm and arrived at the dock late in the afternoon to a brief rainshower. Everyone had a great time and even as the boat docked, the AUE gang was trying to stir up interest in another trip the following weekend. Unfortunately, only one of the other divers on the boat was even remotely interested and we needed 15 divers to make a go of it. Oh well, we'll be back one way or another.