My Sardinia

It still amazes me how our diving instructor found it. Not by accident, mind you. Franco knew something was in the water. He was able to find it with no GPS, no buoy, no sonar. I remember people from our group making comments and jokes about this. “Who does he think he is, Magellan? Christopher Columbus?”

Soon, our boat was slowing down, almost to a stop. Franco, using his own invisible compass, kept looking left towards Tavolara, then the right. It looked like he was cross-referencing the location with Molara and Punta Coda Cavallo. We were basically in the middle of the Porto Taverna Gulf.

The Diver Flag indicates the Position of the Reggiane

A few minutes later, Franco shouted at me. “Drop the anchor! Here, now!”. And that was then, we were exactly on top of the site.

This dive was not easy descent. It was difficult for me because I had never went deeper than 20 meters (65 feet). The Reggiane was situated 118 feet (about 36 meters) from the surface.

I used the rope of our sailboat’s anchor to help me descend. I slowly eased my way down to allow my internal water pressure to equalize. My heart was pounding. I was getting too excited so I had to calm down to avoid breathing too much air.

As we got deeper into the water, it was getting dim. The water temperature wasn’t as toasty as before. While I was floating down, I scolded myself for wearing a flimsy and a very non-insulating 3mm thick neoprene wet suit.

Air bubbles rose up as I braved the deep. Franco had already went ahead of us and I can see that he was motioning us to go deeper with his hand. We were finally there!

A few seconds of bated breath, my flippers slapped into something hard and metallic. I have landed exactly on top of the 1,05 horsepower Alfa Romeo inline engine!

The 1050Hp Alfa Romeo Engine- Picture by Viviana Rocco-Source:Tragedie di guerra e di pace by Eugenio Trainito.

With limited air and less than proper pressurizing in these depths, I knew i had no more than 10 minutes with the “Falco II“. I had to make the most of it. I started looking around. The wreck is spread out over an area of 150 square meters (1,615 square feet). I was able to clearly identify the tail of the plan with the rudder. The part of the cockpit with flight instruments looked intact but other than that, I was not able to see much. I saw part of the wings, the pilot’s seat and the propeller. The three landing gears looked worn down. The third one looked like it was about to give way.

Time soon passed and we needed to regroup at a designated spot in the wreck. As I was swimming towards the spot, my peripheral vision saw one of the guys climbing the anchor line quickly. He was also moving as if encumbered by a great weight on his side. Franco tried to slow him down but the guy kept going up. He did stop for decompression but he did so several minutes less than what was required. I also noticed that the guy had something sticking out of his buoyancy compensator.

When everyone had gone up to the surface and went back up the boat, we found out that the diver had decided to bring the tailwheel of the Reggiane with him. He broke one of the cardinal rules of wreck diving which is “never take anything for the wreck”. He was also risking his life. And having Franco’s teacher’s license revoked.

Franco got very upset. Other members of our group went ballistic. But the guy insisted on keeping the tailwheel.

The dive overall was a fantastic experience for me. It was the first time I had dived on that depth; the first time diving on an airplane wreck; and probably the first among many dives that gave me the biggest rush.

Unfortunately, it was ruined by an idiot who took what he wasn’t suppose to take.

If you want a diving adventure searching for the sunken plane of the Reggiane, I suggest you start talking to the guys at the Porto San Paolo Diving Center.