15: Chelsea and the Sapona

Chelsea Sutton and Robert Wade flew underwater.

Well, that was Chelsea’s impression of her scuba diving…she was free. She’d have preferred to be able to fly through the air on gossamer wings – that would be the ultimate freedom – but scuba diving was a close second. She weighed nothing. Movement was effortless. And the fish that surrounded them…beautiful.

And in front of them, the wreck of the Sapona. The Sapona rested in only fifteen feet of water, and a few snorkelers were diving the wreck as well.

It wasn’t much of a wreck dive, Wade thought as he wound his way through the remains of the ship, enjoying it for what it was. He had been familiar with its history, even before Chelsea had told him of it as her sister, Stacy, had piloted their boat toward it.

The Sapona was a 350-foot concrete hulled freighter, that had been designed by Henry Ford and built in 1919 by the Liberty Ship Building Company out of Georgia. She had been named the Lone Star, and was one of a handful of ships built with steel reinforced concrete, in the effort to conserveon precious steel during World War I.

Because of her extreme weight, the Lone Star was not cost efficient to operate and was soon sold. Renamed Sapona, a Bahamanian purchased her in order to store prohibition whiskey on board. Rum runners would cruise to and from Florida picking up their illegal cargo from the Sapona, which was moored just off Bimini.

ln 1926, a severe hurricane hit the island. Even though the Sapona had been
moved to a safe protected area, she was bounced off of the sea bed by massive merciless waves and broke in two.

During World War II, the Sapona was utilized as a target for bombing practice. Air Force and Navy planes flew from Florida to drop bombs on the defenseless hulk.

"Some people," finished Chelsea, "see the Sapona as an ugly, rusting hulk sticking out of otherwise pristine waters. But really, it is a wonderful underwater sanctuary. We will see yellow tails, blue tangs, puffer fish, stingrays, queen and French Angelfish, barracudas, and jacks."

And fire coral, noted Wade, carefully avoiding an encrustation.

The wrecks he really liked to dive through were those in Palau – the aircraft and ships that had been sunk during World War II.

But the role he was playing for the sake of his guide, Chelsea Sutton, was that of a neophyte diver, and she continued to stick close to him as a good buddy should.

After they’d gotten their fill of the Sapona, they surfaced and returned to the Scylla and Charybdis.

There was a fresh-water shower below, and Chelsea sent Wade down first to shower off the salt water. When he reappeared topside, Chelsea went down, and Wade went forward to talk to the pilot, Chelsea’s sister, Stacy.

And for the first time, he noticed that Stacy – clad in a baseball cap and dark sunglasses – was Chelsea Sutton’s identical twin.

How interesting, thought Robert Wade. That could come in useful, in more ways than one.