Ewa Silver

“Today’s the day….”  It was our day today to discover the Atocha.

Our work-free day we decided to spend in Key West, home to very eccentric people and many treasure hunters. We left Key Largo early in the morning and headed for Mel Fisher’s Museum, which holds one of the most famous and controversial shipwrecks of the Keys - Nuestra Senora de Atocha.

We took two vans for the two-hour ride to Key West.  We planned to sleep on our way down there, but Jack (our field school mascot) had other ideas.  He provided entertainment for my van by demonstrating his excitement through powerful vocalization. 

The treasure in the museum is very impressive, but even more impressive is the treasure that is on sale in the gift store. Seeing the original artifact from the shipwreck on sale made me think again about the endless battle between archaeologists and treasure hunters. How could we allow most of such a precious treasure and our heritage to be sold piece by piece and disappear in private collections all around the world?

After being offered to buy a four foot long gold chain (salvaged just four days ago from the Atocha site), we left the museum!

We had lunch in one of the many Key West outdoor bars and then wandered on Duval Street. We also stopped by Fat Tuesday to have some really good and cold Rumrunners, which lead to our decision to chase chickens on Mallory Square. My dive buddy, Damon Lasiter, offered $5 to any successful chicken-catcher. We all got outwitted by chickens. . . .

Knowing that Jack would be riding in another van (and be unable to amuse us), we planned to sleep on the trip back to Key Largo.  Unfortunately, we had Kenny Keeping in our van.  This time, Kenny entertained us with his loud, arrhythmic snoring.

Damon offers dancing lessons Saturday evening.