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Dive Report: Fuggedaboudit Wreck 
Date: Sunday afternoon, August 19, 2001
Boat: Reel Time
Captain: Tony Andreoni
By: Mike Rodriguez
A few weeks ago, one of our guys started talking to the guys who run the Reel Time, a
fast, comfortable fishing charter boat out of Port Canaveral. We wanted to charter the
boat for some of our dives in the area, but they were understandably reluctant to take
on a bunch of technical divers without knowing anything about us other than
reputation. Eventually, and with some last minute difficulty, they
agreed to take us out to several sites including the Cities Service Empire (CSE) and an "unknown" for which
we had acquired numbers through other sources.
The gang rolled into the marina very early Sunday morning after two great dives the
day before on the CSE and a popular shallow wreck called the Laertes (AKA Dutch
Freighter). We dove the CSE again this morning, then headed for the top-secret
numbers of the "unknown" wreck in 280 feet of water. At the site we had no trouble
finding the wreck on the bottom finder. It appeared to have lots of relief
and was oriented east-west. Unfortunately, we also found 3+ knots of current running nearly
due north. The morning dives and the dives the previous day had light to no current
below 70 feet, so we decided to grapple the wreck and drop down the line hoping to
find similar conditions. The captain deftly maneuvered us into position and we dropped
our monster grappling hook. No sooner than the hook hit bottom, the large floatball
with ~400 lift sank in the wicked current.
So, with our ball gone and a wild current flowing, we decided to attempt a free
descent. Everyone geared up and the captain took us upcurrent. The divers dropped
into the water and started down. We hovered over the sand as jacks swam out to
greet us. Unfortunately, the current was going strong on the bottom too and we never
got close enough to the wreck to see it, though judging from the number of
jacks surrounding us, we knew we were close. Disappointed, we called the dive and started
up. After a brief deco, we surfaced and boarded the boat. By this time, since we'd
already done dives earlier in the day, most of the gang was out of gas or too low to
safely attempt another drop. I too was low on deco gas, but was able to borrow a
deco stage with enough for me to dive again.
We consulted with the captain telling him that, unlike the day before, the current was
running strong all the way down. He adjusted his tactic accordingly, and when we were
in position, my buddy and I dropped back into the water while my other buddy shot
video of the drop from the flying bridge.
I was first in the water and immediately started scootering down into deeper water
where the hypoxic trimix in my back tanks became normoxic. I stopped briefly, still
pointing head down, to listen for my buddy's scooter. The sound got closer, then I saw
him pass about five feet to my left. I started the scooter and we both continued
down. It was an awesome sight with both of us pointing the Gavins straight down descending
as quickly as we could through the clear water.
Around 100 feet the temperature began to drop. When we approached the sand, we
established neutral buoyancy, and looked around. There was no sign of the wreck. We
split up, still keeping close enough to see each other, to widen the swath we covered
as the current drove us rapidly north. Suddenly, we were swarmed by jacks, then we
saw the shadow of the wreck approaching. We scootered toward the wreck and
finally reached the starboard side near midships. I smiled as I realized that my buddy
and I were the first humans to see this wreck since it sank decades ago. I looked at my
compass and started east along the starboard gunnel with my buddy following.
The wreck is very old. It's heavily encrusted with growth and has an abundance of the
stark-white oculina coral growing in big bunches all over it. When we reached the
bow, I dropped to the bottom to look up at the impressive sight of the ship jutting up
out of the sand. The name of the ship has long since been completely overgrown by
coral, so no direct identification was possible. The anchors, heavily overgrown and
hard to identify, are pulled up snug in the hawseholes.
I glanced at my buddy, then rounded the bow and started aft stopping briefly to listen
for his scooter. He was right behind me and we continued aft. About midships, we
found our grapple hook with the line sticking straight out over the sand. It had just
barely snagged the gunnel. Another foot and it would have missed. I tugged on the
line to estimate how difficult it would be to unhook us. It was tight, but nothing we couldn't
unhook. I turned to my buddy who was watching me and could also see it would be
easy to unhook us. We left the hook in place and scootered aft over the
deck.
Along the way, we found what looked like it might be the engine or boiler. Everything
was so heavily overgrown that it was hard to tell what I was looking at. At the stern,
the ship is badly mangled and falling apart. I think I saw one of the screws, but again it
was so overgrown that it had no distinct shape. The visibility near the
stern dropped significantly so I stopped frequently to check on my buddy. We rounded the stern, then
I dropped near the sand and scootered forward again studying the hull. The hull plating
is falling out in many places further attesting to the ship's age. Near
the bow, I saw a chunk of oculina coral with hundreds of small pink fish swimming around it. As I
approached, they all swam into the coral's intricate branching. The display was
fascinating as the fish swarmed out into a ball around the coral, then all at once
vanished into the coral, only to reemerge when I moved away. It looked like an
umbrella opening and closing. I smiled at my good fortune to be able to see such
things, then I checked on my buddy and we rounded the bow to start back along the
deck.
Near the stern, we found a very large chunk of oculina several feet across. This much
growth could only have occurred over 60 to 80 years. The age of this ship is going to
make it hard to identify.
As our time ran out, we headed back to the hook. It was still there with the line
sticking straight out over the sand. The ball was out of sight at the end of the line
hovering in the current. Having been squashed by the pressure, it probably resembled
an orange raisin. I moved out over the line a few feet and when my buddy unhooked
us, I pulled on the line to tie a loop and foul the hook. Unfortunately,
although the current was very strong on the bottom, it was even stronger near the surface and the
drag on the line pulled the loop out. My buddy and I struggled to foul the hook a while
longer, then we cut our losses and dropped the hook to drag in the sand. With luck,
we thought, it wouldn't snag anything during its drift. We started up the line and began
an uneventful deco. When we reached our shallow stops, we let go of the line and shot
liftbags since the hook was still dragging in the sand and the current made it
uncomfortable to continue holding on. When our bags hit the surface, the crew would
know they could pull up the hook before it snagged something as it dragged on the
bottom.
After decompressing, we boarded the boat with big smiles barely able to keep up with
all the questions from the rest of the team. We told everyone what we found and
everyone agreed that we'd be back to dive this site again. This makes five virgin
wrecks our group has found and dove in the last couple of years including
the Vitric, Marine Sulphur Queen, Carysfort Deep, and the Pan Massachusetts.
Since we were unable to identify the wreck and since the location is a closely guarded
secret, we've nicknamed it the 'Fuggedaboudit' wreck pending positive identification.
This was the last dive of our weekend. We headed back to the dock and said
goodbye to our new friends on the Reel Time. These guys worked very hard to make
our trip an success and we feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to dive off their
boat. After seeing us dive first-hand, their initial apprehension disappeared and they
invited us (and only us) to come back any time. We'll be taking them up on the offer
soon!
Copyright
© 2001 Mike Rodriguez. All rights reserved. |