January 12, 2013 - Sebastian Inlet (treasure coast)

Arrived at the Sebastian Inlet and tried to anchor in a reported anchorage but the water was too shallow and we ran aground on soft sand. Roly was able to pull the boat free using the dinghy after a fare amount of cursing and swearing, lol. We spent a sleepless night in deeper unprotected waters.

The next day we moved about 3 miles and anchored near a couple of islands to give us protection from the wind. This area is called, the Indian River, and is part of the Intracoastal Waterway.

This seems to be a popular place for the locals on weekends. They come to camp, kayak and fish.

Leanne, we finally found an island for you to camp on

Roly walking the sandbar that connects the 2 islands
Rol & C's in the background

 

This being the treasure coast, we visited the Mel Fisher Museum.

Mel Fisher who started out as a musician in the big band era also had a great interest in scuba diving. He opened the first scuba store on the planet which probably led to his passion for treasure hunting. For many years he researched and found sunken Spanish Galeons. The most popular of these ships was the "Atocha" which went down in the 18th century with millions of dollars worth of gold, silver and jewels destined for Spain from the new world. As  boaters and scuba divers, it was a very interesting museum to see.

What a thrill it would be to find just one of the silver pieces of eight coins, (each one was priced at $700 and up in the museum).

This particular coin from the Atocha is valued at $2,700.