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2010-07: JOIN US! ATOCHA TREASURE DIVE SD Group TRIP, July26-Aug1, 2010


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#76 uwfan

uwfan

    I spend too much time on line

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Posted 03 August 2010 - 10:52 PM

I arrived home yesterday from a week in Key West that I’m still trying to find the words to describe. The trip out to the Atocha treasure hunting boat the J.B. McGruder and diving on the Vandenburg were quite an experience. After getting a taste of wrecks in North Carolina over the 4th, I was looking forward to the trip and learning how the professionals look for treasure underwater. I really enjoyed finding shark teeth in N.C., so possibly finding artifacts from the Atocha, hundreds of years old, was quite exciting.

The conservation lab was a highlight for me, seeing the process first hand that removes the encrustation of several hundred years in the ocean. It was great learning what artifacts might look like under the water and realizing how I could be a part of finding treasure and finding things that are part of the history of the lost Spanish ship the Atocha.

Diving the Vandenburg was quite an experience, the size of the ship, how intact the ship is, and seeing the beginning process of the ship becoming an artificial reef was great.

Diving the Atocha site was very cool and with a few dives I began to really see the process of looking for treasure (all while trying to find some myself!) I kept looking for unusual objects in the sand and on the site, and when I did find pottery my first thought was, is this really what I think it is, nah… well, maybe, YES, YES IT IS! How fantastic to find pottery that was nearly 500 years on the ocean floor. A great trip!

#77 WreckWench

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Posted 10 August 2010 - 06:15 AM

The birth of a REAL Treasure Hunter (and FINDER!!!) :D

And it was a great piece of pottery too! Her eyes got huge when she realized it was TRULY A 500 YEAR OLD ARTIFACT!!! It even has a unique tracking number so she can see what happens to it once it returns from the salvage vessal and begins the journey of documentation, restoration, preservatation, adjudication and more. Since all the artifacts belong to the investors which comprise several members of our community for a total of only about 165 people...this artifact will one day be owned by either one of the investors or even the museum. (Last year one of the artifacts our SD group found will be going to the museum as it was one of only 3 wall guns ever found on the Atocha and all 3 were found together.) We have been following their journey and will show those pictures and tell the story in the Atocha Adventure Week subforum. Stay tuned....

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