Vero to Cocoa Beach,  Mel Fisher's Treasure Museum

                                                               

     While at Vero Beach we took city buses and visited Mel Fisher's Treasure Museum in Sebastian.  It was so cool!! He was a world renowned treasure hunter of shipwrecks and  has been on TV many times.   Among other shipwrecks, he discovered the  Spanish galleon Atocha off Key West, Fl., one of the wealthiest shipwrecks ever.  It is a 1622 ship that has given them treasure worth $450,000,00 so far   (only partly excavated to date).  It is the most spectacular collection of spanish artifacts and treasure ever assembled.   The amazing thing is that he was from Redondo Bch., Ca. and owned the first dive shop ever there in the 1950's. My mom remembered the dive shop! He relocated his family to the Carribean in 1963 and his whole family  spent the last 50 years as shipwreck treasure hunters. 

                                        

                        Mel's wife set the female underwater record (which 

still stands today) in a tank at Hermosa Pier, Ca.

gold items found

                                              

Mel's crew celebrating  finding the Atocha shipwreck.

Mel's motto - Today's The Day!!!

     Bill insisted  we spend a third day at Vero Beach as a storm was going to hit.  Sure glad we did because that storm hit our area hard. 

We  headed down to Cocoa Beach Munical Marina next and spent one night there.  Cocoa Beach kind of reminded us of San Luis Obispo with lots of action going on and nice shops.  We really enjoyed Ryan's Pizza. 

                                                              

The storm that hit while we were in the marina - sure glad we weren't on the water!

     The ICW here is full of manatees and dolphins.  The 5 mi/hr manatee zones are everywhere (a real pain when boating).  The manatees where once endangered,  but have now made a huge comeback and are everywhere here.

     The ICW here does not have any beaches on it!  What a surprize for us!  All of the beaches are on the outside Atlantic.  The water is brown and shallow (9-12 feet) deep around here.  There are parts of the ICW up furhter north where it is even shallower. No more beautiful, clear blue/green water for us!

                                                      

                                         Eagle's nest on the ICW

                                                   

All of that screening to keep out alligators and bugs!