KeysDiveGuideVol.20, GalleonHunter2 El Populo,El Infante,San Jose,La Capitana(1733)

[@stefansykora3323]

Yes this is The fames STEFAN , I’m still here and I’m telling you people looking back on my life I’m very proud of think I did. Very good memories, I yes with all that shit on this Planet I’m very lucky to still be here and enjoy the life.

[@KeysDiveGuide]

stefy! i've got more of our adventures in the computer right now in the re-editing process (angustias, sueco, coffins patch trail and mystery galleon) my email is we need to catch up! regards, don

[@KeysDiveGuide]

the spanish learned very quickly to use distilled alcohol to make a slurry with the leaves, drying out the goop into a powder. although it didn't pack the punch that today's cocaine does, (today's coke uses raw ether or petroleum distillates...you can smell it) it was used by the upper classes, with the leaves being used by the natives and lower classes. my friend has a cocaine tin recovered from a 1715 wreck site and the inside still has traces of the powder. also, i don't know if you've heard of the inca curse...."the cocoa leaves will sustain our people in times of hunger and cold, while the white powder produced by the spanish will destroy their souls".

[@scuba_scott1725]

I was just wondering if the San Jose Cannon is still underwater? Would hate to venture out to see it only to find it's been salvaged. Thanks!

[@KeysDiveGuide]

It's still there between Davis Reef and Little Conch Reef, scuba_scott1725. SAN JOSE CANNON (GPS 24°56.073 x 080°29.040) is in 30' of water and is easy to spot from the boat on a clear day! If you can't navigate, look for Cpt. Carl Fismer or ScubaWize on Face Book! Carl and his friends offer classes about the 1733 Spanish Treasure Fleet and take divers to the SAN JOSE CANNON and EL INFANTE (GPS 24°56.558 x 080°28.531), a 1733 shipwreck that sank on Little Conch Reef.

[@jimmystrickland1034]

@@KeysDiveGuide scared to see what’s become of the keys. Grew up in the keys and left in 2000. It was getting crowded by then.

[@KeysDiveGuide]

Ahoy, jimmystrickland1034! I lived on Long Key (mm 69 - between Islamorada and Marathon) from 1975-1976) and it was beautiful back then. Sure, there were snowbirds from late November thru April, but it wasn't nearly as crowded. Key West was still scruffy with many Duvall St. stores needing paint. The gigantic cruise ships had yet to overburden the KW docks and the chamber of commerce had yet to create all these "promotional weeks", drawing tens of thousands of tourists during the summer. I remember that after July 4th, August, September and early October were wonderful months to visit KW not only because of the overall excellent visibility of the ocean water, but the fact there were so few tourists lumbering up and down Duvall St. Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefers were a local band in the mid-1990s. This was still a few years before they became an international phenomenon, spawning a flood of geeked-out "Parrot Heads" to descend on the Keys with their pink, sunburned bodies & Hawaiian shirts. Way back then there was still a rural atmosphere in Big Pine, Marathon and Islamorada, but Key Largo was already becoming a bedroom community for Miami as well as the "Dive Capital of the World" making the area unpleasant with the accompanying tourist infestation. When I returned to South Florida in early 1993, I thought of moving to the Lower Keys permanently, but when I finally moved away in late 1997, I knew the only thing I loved about the Keys was the reef line and I hated what the islands had become, a crowded eyesore of rude tourists, overly expensive hotels & restaurants and long traffic lines.

[@jimmystrickland1034]

@@KeysDiveGuide big pine key holds a special place in my soul.

[@jimmystrickland1034]

@@KeysDiveGuide do you have any books? I’m interested in your treasure hunts in depth over your career. The dive guide volumes are super nostalgic for me as well, even though the gold we hunted was lobster lol.