Antares and Steel Barge

Meet the site

The Antares was an old coastal trader and fishing vessel of about 22 m that was scuttled at Fenton Patches in 2011, together with a 10 m x 10 m steel barge placed close by. She was one of the first vessels added to the Fenton field after a long gap following the original Marchart 3 and Bus Stop deployments, and she has since become part of a small cluster of wrecks that includes the Amelia C and the Merindah Pearl, both prepared by Darwin Sub Aqua Club volunteers and sunk in 2013.

The Antares sits upright on sand in 25–28 m. She is a compact, beamy workboat with a raised bow, an open working deck and a deckhouse aft, and the hull has taken on a coat of sponges, soft corals, hydroids and oysters typical of Beagle Gulf. Hatches and doorways are open and can be looked into by torchlight, but the interior is small and silty. The DSAC description records the Amelia C's port bow resting against the Antares' starboard bow, which makes the two hulls one continuous structure on the sounder – the NT Government reef list, however, gives the Amelia C a separate position shared with the Merindah Pearl, so treat the exact layout as something to confirm on your first dive.

The steel barge is a flat, box-like structure that has become a fish-aggregating block in its own right: schools of fusiliers, trevally and baitfish hang over it and snapper shelter along its edges. Between the barge and the hull there is little more than sand and scattered debris.

The attraction of the site is concentration of fish rather than wreck architecture: golden snapper, saddletail snapper, cod and big black jewfish use the hulls, and pelagic mackerel and trevally sweep through on the tide. It is an advanced-level dive because of depth, open-water descent and the short slack window, and it is best combined with a second dive on the Merindah Pearl or Amanda Lee. For Darwin divers it is one of the more rewarding Fenton sites on a clear neap-tide day.

What you might see

Golden snapper, saddletail snapper, black jewfish, estuary cod, trevally, Spanish mackerel, fusiliers, batfish, baitfish schools, sponges, soft corals

Location

Scuttled coastal trader and a 10 m x 10 m steel barge on the eastern side of the Fenton Patches reef field (12°09.937'S 130°41.363'E).

Facilities nearby

Departure facilities at Cullen Bay Marina (fuel, ramp, toilets, cafes) and Dinah Beach; air fills in Darwin only.