Fortunal
dive site type: wreck
difficulty: medium
depth range: 0-60 m (wreck 37-52 m)
distance from the diving center: 4.5 nm
short characteristic: a well-preserved wreck of a fishing boat lying on the sandy bottom next to the steep wall, in which there is a long, narrow cave at the depth of 6 m
The Vis island’s economy is based on agriculture (mainly viticulture), fishing and tourism. While tourism is a relatively new sector – in the Yugoslavian times the island was a closed area for foreigners – fishery has a very long tradition on Vis. It was in the 17th century when falkuša was designed and built in Komiža. Falkuša was a sailboat that occurred to be the best unit for fishing for the next 300 years. It’s worth to notice that a large part of fishing was held 42 miles off the Vis, on the Palagruža archipelago. Although the last falkuša sank in 1986, traditional regatta from Komiža to Palagruža (Rota palagruzona) is still held today.
The rich history of fishing on the Vis island is unfortunately not only about successes, but also numerous incidents involving fishing boats. In one of such accidents crashed a cutter boat called Fortunal. This wooden ship was built in 1995 in the central Italy, in the town of Fano. Its high sides were designed so that even the biggest waves in the Adriatic Sea weren’t dangerous.