The Santini Vendetta

by Christopher Fox

  The dive went on like that for half an hour. Hammerheads in various numbers moving sinuously past them. Blue-spotted jacks prowling for creole fish, with whitetips ready to gobble up the scraps. The manta gliding through three or four times with its wide wings estimated to range from two to three metres. And centimetres from Kyle’s navel, that moray, keeping its glassy eyes fixed on him.

  Moving forward, Kyle saw that the bottom was starting to recede from his view. As he reached the point where the coral dropped away to the sandy bottom, he proceeded to follow the contour of the rock and equalised the pressure build-up in his ears and facemask as he descended to the ocean floor. He reached for his depth gauge and confirmed that he had inadvertently exceeded the 20-metre he had planned. With a full tank of air, he knew he could sustain this depth for an hour, and not have to go through decompression procedures on his ascent. His pressure gauge indicated a little over 800 kg remaining, sufficient to sustain him for the duration of his dive. His waterproof chronograph stopwatch was showing that he had accumulated 36 minutes of bottom time and had about 24 minutes remaining. Glancing to his side he saw that Jenny was close behind him and he slowed to allow her to pull alongside. He reached for her gauges and noted that she had less than 600 kg of air remaining. He formed his thumb and forefinger into a circle with his other fingers extended to signify the ‘OK’ sign. She responded in a like fashion and they continued to scan the depths for their elusive treasure. He knew that Jenny was not using her air efficiently because she elected not to maintain the rigorous exercise program Kyle had suggested prior to the trip. This would mean that they would have approximately 15 minutes of bottom time left before having to ascend at Jenny’s 250-kg mark.

  * * * *

  The area known as Cocos Island is an 80 square-kilometre landmass, located approximately 500 km off the coast of Costa Rica, in the Pacific. The world's second largest uninhabited island, it is located at the centre of the volcanic Cocos Ridge, which runs from the Galapagos Islands to the Middle American Trench south-east of Costa Rica. It is the only outcrop of this submarine volcanic chain and rises 3,000 metres from the bottom of the ocean to the summit. It was discovered by Johan Cabecas in 1526 and over the next century, became an oceanic ‘truck-stop’ where ships under all flags could rest and replenish fresh water, food and firewood. The first notation for the island appeared on a French map of the Americas in 1542 and was labelled as Ille de Coques, or “Shell Island.” Maybe misunderstanding the French name, or simply providing their own name, the Spanish named it Isla del Cocos, or ‘Island of Coconuts.’ It was around 1820 when the island became the haven for pirates and buccaneers to harbour their treasures. Among subsequent visitors were Buccaneers who supposedly left buried treasure—notably the pirate Bonito in the early 19th century, after plundering Peruvian churches. The island harbours no snakes, mosquitoes, or rats, but is the home to wild pigs, a few cattle, monkeys, and thousands of birds. It has long been considered a haven for treasure seekers because according to legend, it is estimated that billions of dollars in treasures are either lying on the ocean floor, or stored in some never-to-be-found pirate hideaways.

  Literally hundreds of expeditions have searched, blasted, and dug for the ‘Lost Loot of Lima (Peru),’ the treasure of the pirate “Benito Bonito of the Bloody Sword” and Capt. Edward Davis’ gold. This lost treasure is estimated at $75,000,000. One gold doubloon dated 1788 was found by August Gissler who lived on the island for 20 years. The island has been a possession of Costa Rica since 1888, and a small government establishment has been maintained at Wafer Bay, not least of all to supervise treasure hunting. Permission to visit the island must be secured from the Costa Rica government, and no more concessions are being given to dig for treasure. If any treasure is inadvertently found, then half goes to the Costa Rican government. Many treasure-hunting expeditions have been made to the island, though officially, no treasure to date has ever been found.

  No accommodations are available on the island and camping is prohibited. All visitors must therefore arrive by boat, complete with all necessary items to sustain themselves for the duration.

  The vast array of rich plunder, caskets of buried jewels, chests of gold ingots, and bags of outlandish coins is the consequence of the pirates and buccaneers that plied the seas in the 17th and 18th century. Pirates, derived from the Latin pirata—one who robs or plunders on the sea—were ‘bad,’ as they plundered from anyone, even their own kind. Conversely, Buccaneers waged war only on Spanish ships, and only in the Americas. The term is derived from the Santo Domingo’s Indian word ‘boucans’, which was the term used for drying meat on barbecues or wooden frames. The Spaniards were the first to inhabit Cocos Island and had virtually exterminated the aborigines when they turned their attention to Mexico and Peru, deserting the island. French and English sailors settled on the islands and hunted the cattle left behind by the Spaniards, drying the meat on boucans. When the Spanish government finally drove out the settlers they took to the open sea as buccaneers, taking every opportunity to plunder the Spanish galleons. Captain Edward Davis was one of the most notorious buccaneers, harrying Spanish settlements and taking ships on the coasts of Peru and Chile. Born in Wales he held his command for a record four years from 1683, after which he sailed to Virginia in 1688 and settled down at Old Comfort Point.

  The real treasure, however, is the island itself. Jacques Cousteau deemed it ‘the most beautiful island in the world’ and Michael Crichton wrote ‘Jurassic Park’ with it in mind. The unique flora and fauna have attracted numerous scientists and naturalists from all over the world to study its array of plant and wildlife. Identification has been made of 97 species of birds, two endemic species of reptiles, 57 of crustaceans, and over 500 of sea mollusks. It is considered that there are over 800 species of insects and arthropods, 300 species of saltwater fish, and only 5 species of freshwater fish. The island experiences a significant rainfall—almost 750 cm a year—and with the rugged terrain, many waterfalls have formed—some plunging spectacularly into the sea.

  The area is a haven for experienced divers, due to the strong currents and numerous sharks. In fact, many divers visit the area for a chance to experience the vista created by schools of hammerhead sharks, sometimes in groups of 50 or more.

  * * * *

  At first, he thought it was just another piece of coral, but something struck him as being different. There was perfection to the circular form that would unlikely be created from random coral growth. Removing his ‘tool’—a large, robust knife used by divers, similar to a ‘Bowie’ knife, with a serrated edge running along the back of the blade—he carefully chipped away at the coral. Jenny, inflating her buoyancy compensator (BC) slightly, had now suspended herself above him in order to see the object of his curiosity. Working near the edge of the circular form, he dug a small groove in the coral that completely circled the object. With a back and forth motion, he worked the tip of the tool deeper into one side, and leveraged the object clear of the coral. The encrusted coral fell away and the dull yellow colour of the object was unmistakable—it was a gold coin.

  Kyle excitedly glanced up at Jenny, holding up his find. He could see Jenny’s eyes light up and she gave the ‘OK’ sign with both hands. Kyle inflated a marker buoy and allowed it to float to the surface, securing the end to a coral outcrop. He would take a location reading from the boat’s GPS system once on the surface and then retrieve the buoy. Checking Jenny’s air supply convinced them that it was time to return to the boat with their find. Slowly, holding hands, they ascended to the surface at the location of the marker buoy. They both broke the surface together and immediately inflated their BCs. A light rain falling beneath darkening skies greeted them. Kyle removed his regulator and pulled his mask down around his neck, waiting for Jenny to do the same. Kyle could see the thrill on Jenny’s face as he held up the coin to inspect it.

  “It’s definitely late 18th century” he exclaimed, trying to make out details of the coin
. Kyle was less prone to emotional reactions to such things than Jenny, who was unable to contain her excitement.

  Jenny made sweeping motions in the water with her arms so that she could get closer to Kyle. He handed the coin to her and she held it up, turning it over carefully in her hands, trying to contain her excitement.

  “Oh Kyle,” she said, spitting out a mouthful of salt water. “Do you think there could be more? You’re right, it is late 18th century—Peruvian in fact. My God. Do you realize that this could be part of the Lost Loot of Lima?”

  Although Kyle had come to the area for diving, it was Jenny who had studied pirate treasures and had apprised Kyle of the legends surrounding buried treasure in and around Cocos Island.

  “I don’t think you should start to pee tiny bubbles yet,” said Kyle, diffusing Jenny’s enthusiasm a little. “First of all, we find out exactly what this is we have found, I would like you to clean up this coin when we get back check it against one of your catalogues. We can probably get an early start tomorrow and see if there is any more, provided the weather holds, and we can set up an exploratory grid around the area we found the coin.”

  Kyle scanned the surface for the boat and located it approximately 30 m away, between them and the island. The gleaming white hull of the 18-metre Hatteras shimmered even under the overcast sky and the red dive flag with white diagonal stripe hung limp on the masthead. To his right loomed Manuelita Island, its vertical cliffs plunging into the sea. Wherever the angle of inclination was less than 90 degrees, tufts of grass and bushy, mangrove-like trees clung to the lava face, their long roots dangling in the air like stringy hair. Every piece of vegetation, it seemed, held a bird, either a brown or red-footed booby, a downy booby chick, or a snow-white fairy tern. Just to the south, Cocos Island reared overhead, a mountain shrouded in cushiony clouds. Through the light rain sweeping horizontally across Wafer Bay and into their faces, they could see perhaps half a mile inland before the ubiquitous green gave way to a soft, obscuring white. Closer in, veils of streaky clouds revealed a downpour, while on the island’s periphery, waterfalls spilt down cliffs many storeys high. Cocos has but three ingredients: green plants, grey stone, and clear water.

  He thumbed a signal to Jenny and donned his facemask, cleared his regulator, deflated his BC and sank below the surface. They both proceeded underwater in the direction of the boat. Kyle reached the slowly rolling craft first and grabbed for the ladder attached to the swim platform. The rain was much heavier now and the wind had started to pick up, although they were in the lee of the island, which accounted for the relatively calm water. Removing one fin at a time he tossed them on to the swim platform. Grabbing the ladder with both hands and locating the bottom rung with his right foot he hauled himself up onto the platform. Removing his tanks and weight belt he looked back at Jenny who had now inflated her BC and was holding up one of her fins for him to take. As he grabbed the fin, a second one appeared in Jenny's other hand and he tossed them both into the boat. Kyle offered his hand to Jenny as she negotiated the moving ladder.

  “Where's the coin?” Kyle asked, betraying a little apprehension.

  Jenny beamed a smile at him, “Don't worry, I put it in the pocket of my BC. Here it is,” she said, holding it up to show him. I'll go ahead and start the boat while you stow away all the gear. Once we get going, I'll make us a couple of nice cool drinks. I'm sure you must be thirsty after breathing all that dry air.”

  "You bet,” he said as she disappeared into the cabin to access the lower station—the rain was now quite heavy she would get soaked using the upper station.

  She switched on the port engine and punched the start button. The engine burst into life with a low rumble and she mimicked the process for the starboard engine. Kyle folded the ladder and fastened it in place on the swim platform, then secured the tanks in the tank racks. He then moved to the bow to retrieve the anchor using the electric windlass while Jenny alternately engaged the port and starboard drives to manoeuvre the boat.

  “Got it!” Kyle shouted as the anchor broke the surface. He stowed the Danforth and moved aft. He made his way around the superstructure and entered the cabin. “You may as well pilot her in,” he said to Jenny. “I'll fix the drinks. What would you like?”

  “Just a soft drink—Diet Coke would be fine, thanks.”

  Kyle raised his voice above the increasing rumble of the diesels. “Take her over to the marker buoy so we can pick it up and get a reading on the location. We don't want anyone else nosing around here until we can register our claim with the authorities.”

  * * * *

  The next day, they did in fact get an early start at continuing the search, as sleeping was impossible. It was cool enough that night that they didn’t have to run the generator for the air-conditioning. They talked most of the night about plans for their exploration and how they were going to map the area. Jenny had cleaned the coin and checked it against the catalogues, verifying that it was in fact from Peru and could have been part of the stolen cache from Lima in 1821. The rain had ceased during the night and the morning sky was crimson as the rising sun bathed the few clouds remaining in its fiery glow. Kyle fired up the generator to charge the batteries and provide power for the toaster and coffee maker. Breakfast was a hurried toast with juice and coffee that Jenny prepared while Kyle attended to the equipment and refilled the tanks. By 7:00 a.m. they were back at the site of the find and dropped anchor in the calm and amazingly transparent turquoise-blue waters. Gear was checked and supplies were placed in the netted bag. The vacuum unit was started and the hose unreeled and placed in the water. Although their intention was not to hunt for treasure, it was prudent of them to stock the boat with the necessary equipment in case they were fortunate. They intended to mark out the area with string placed in a grid pattern measuring 100 m square, divided up into 100 squares of 10 m. Along one side of the grid, the ten sections were tagged alphabetically from ‘A’ to ‘J’, and the other side tagged numerically from ‘1’ to ‘10’. In this way, any find could be logged exactly as to where it was located. The location of the original find was approximately in the centre at grid reference ‘D/E-4/5’.

  Most of the area was flat sand with little coral at an average depth of 15 m. Kyle’s calculations determined that they should not exceed a bottom time of more than 45 minutes without decompression procedures. They started their search in ‘D/E-4/5’ and while Kyle examined the small outcrops of coral, Jenny proceeded to ‘vacuum’ the sand through the filtered nozzle at the end of the hose. When they had completed the square, finding nothing, it had taken them 26 minutes, so they proceeded to ‘D/E-5/6’. When their 45 minutes were up, they marked the spot where they had left off and returned to the boat. Kyle started the compressor and connected the tanks while Jenny prepared drinks. They rested for an hour before starting back down.

  They made six dives and covered ten grids when they called it quits for the day. In the process, they discovered six more coins, similar to the one found originally. It was clear that this was a treasure site and that more would be found. Their plan was to cover the squares in a ‘nautilus’ pattern, spiralling out from the starting square which meant they were in grid ‘C/D-6/7’ when they finished. Tempted to stay in the location overnight, they decided against it because they would be vulnerable to any inclement weather, plus, they did not want to draw any undue interest from passing boats.

  They headed back to Wafer Bay and dropped anchor for the night. Kyle refilled the dive tanks while Jenny busied herself in the galley preparing supper. It was warm that evening and Jenny watched Kyle through the glass doors as he wrestled with the heavy tanks. Sweat glistened on his bronze back in the twilight and the sight of him in only his swimsuit stirred her. As fantasies started to build in her head, she removed what little clothing she had on and walked to the door, pressed her breasts against the glass and waited for Kyle to turn around. Kyle placed the last tank in the rack, secured it, and turned to face the erotic sc
ene before him. Beaming from ear to ear, he slowly approached the door and placed his hands on the two flat circles formed by the breasts and pressed his mouth against the glass. She mimicked the movement and met his mouth with hers, forming a circle of condensation on the cool glass. She backed away from the door and slid it back, standing completely naked in the opening. Kyle’s hands were still poised in the position of her breasts and he stepped through the doorway and cupped them, meeting her lips with his.

  “You taste salty, you old salty dog,” Jenny chided.

  “Not so much of the…,” Kyle tried to say ‘old’, but his open mouth was smothered by Jenny’s, her tongue thrust inside to entwine his.

  She placed her arms around his strong shoulders and pressed into him. She could feel his masculinity slowly responding and their breathing became staccato as their hands began caressing each other. She worked her hands down his back and slid them inside the only area of his body covered by clothing. She placed a hand on each buttock and slowly squeezed, all the time swaying her hips to massage him. As she slowly eased the swimsuit down, she lowered her body, placing kisses on his neck, chest, stomach and ...

  * * * *

  The next day they proceeded with their search from where they had left off. Much of the area was rock, which was encrusted with coral where it was not covered with sand. Interestingly, most treasure, or solid objects, will sink to bedrock over time, due to the ever-changing currents manipulating the sand or silt. This is what makes it impractical in many cases to retrieve treasure even when it is located, because the cost of excavating tons of sand exceeds the value of the treasure. The surface bedrock in this case was welcome, as it meant that any treasure would not have sunk too deep to extract. The relatively shallow water also made it possible to use a suction pump to remove the surface sand, revealing what lay beneath.