The Fantastico

Brian setup the trip WAY back at the end of January and I jumped at the chance to do some obscure wrecks, much less make my first foray out into the Gulf. We dove off the Nauti Gal which is operated by Headhunter Charters out of Ft. Meyers Beach; they are currently docked at Rick's Marina, the home port of the Ultimate Getaway. Along w/ Brian and myself, one of Brian's buddies Christos, E-Diver Terrence, James (Big Ass Money), Capt. Oliver and his GF Linda joined the trip.

Greg was the Captain for the day and treated us to an awesome day in the sun. The boat has a wide beam and gear is stowed at deck level on each side. A ice chest made for a decent gearing up station before giant-striding over the stern or for the more Cousteau inclined back roll off the side. We were looking at a full 12 hour day, 3 hours travel time ~53 miles offshore, 6 hours on site, and 3 hours back. The boat has two bunks in the main cabin and 4 v-berths up in the bow one of which I grabbed for most of the travel time.

A week prior to the trip, we started a weather watch as the winds were temperamental and the forecast was floating between 2-6', heading 50+ miles offshore, no one was pleasantly looking forward to a 3 hour elevator ride. The weather accommodated us and early Friday morning the call was made the trip was a officially a 'GO'. I drove out Friday night and grabbed a room at the La Quinta which was surprisingly affordable, Brian and Christos drove out early Sunday morning and kept us all waiting 30 minutes as he demanded a decent breakfast at the Waffle House and got lost in the process… Boat was quickly loaded and we headed out for the uneventful 3 hour run in 1-2' seas for most of the trip, which turned into 2-3' rollers as we approached the site. We planned for two 50 min BT dives with my runtime approaching 70mins, with a 2.5 hour SI between dives.



The Fantastico is a 200' Honduran freighter that was lost in the 'No Name Storm' of 1993. Out of a crew of 10, three were rescued, three bodies recovered, and four never found. The wreck sits in ~115' to the sand, and the top of the stern is about 85'. ADM has a nice three page spread in their archives, though everything fore of the main wheelhouse has flattened out with some structure at the bow still in place. The wreck is covered in arrow crabs and we were greeting by a few hundred amberjacks schooling amidships. The wheelhouse made for some twisting and turning penetration runs and a few small goliath groupers now called the wreck home. The shadows of a few larger goliaths were just beyond the limited visibility, which we estimated at 30'.