I have always had an interest in this area. It seems to me that early on, the Spanish galleons fell prey to the reefs here, not being aware of the shallows going up through the Florida Straights. Like the West coast of Florida, there seems to be little record of wrecks in this area. I think it again may because of few, if any, survivors were available to record the events. Over the years I've heard interesting stories of gold coins and bronze cannons. However I've never come across anything that was more than a story.
I have my theories, but that is all they are, nothing concrete. Wouldn't it be cool to come across one of the really early wrecks that may even be carrying Mayan and Aztec artifacts! I would really like, one day to spend some time there to check the banks out and see if my theories could come to fruition.
Aquanut

What's the Bahama salvage laws like these days?

Au,
They are supposed to be easing up, but I don't have any concrete info.
Aquanut

If my cell phone works over there I guess the wife wouldn't know the difference lol

I have a buddy that has a wreck on Great Inagua Is. and he is waiting for a permit. He has been waiting for over a year and hopes to get something this summer. The Bahamians simply have not issued any new permits. One requirement is that you have a Bahamian partner and the actual permit will be issued to him.

I know a couple guys that went to Cay Sal Banks from Key Largo. Its just a 60 mile one-way trip. One guy is Stephan Syorka. He found bronze cannons but couldn't bring them back. Jeff Kramer knows a cay that has a chest of gold French Livres buried in a cave. It was stolen from a German ship called the Engel Trassen.

Capt. Chuck Mitchell, spent considerable time there and reported a tower rising from the ocean and UFO's entering & exiting the water.

There is a lighthouse on Cay Sal. Maybe thats the tower he saw?

"French Livers?"........ Ooooops! Never mind!

Salvor6 wrote:
There is a lighthouse on Cay Sal. Maybe thats the tower he saw?

Chuck was a seasoned Captain, and Treasure Salvor, and would know about the light house. He said a Tower would rise out of deep water and he said they watched as UFO's entered, and exited the water during evening and night. Dell

There is a reported pyramid on the bottom between Bimini and the north end of the Cay Sal Bank. This subject has been beaten to death. No proof!
Aquanut

It's a teleporting pyramid- it's the same one that is(was) in the everglades-they keep moving it so nobody finds it (again)

I believe that. Really, I believe it!

White Feather,
There's some Ocean front property in Arizona I heard a guy singin' about. Want to go see if there are any old Spanish galleons sunk there?
Aquanut

Sure, let's go by boat and hunt for treasure along the way!

It had retractable wheels!

Where's the tires?

aquanut wrote:
White Feather,
There's some Ocean front property in Arizona I heard a guy singin' about. Want to go see if there are any old Spanish galleons sunk there?
Aquanut

That's not too far fetched. There may have been a Seaport at Erhenberg, Az three thousand years ago, with trade as far away as Egypt.

Must be one of those new car boats!

This area is probably the best virgin area for old spanish shipwrecks anywhere!
Aquanut

That was a boat of mine that a marina dropped and damaged the keel so bad that I shipped it to a quarry in PA and donated it to a dive company to train divers how to get out of wrecks. It's at Guppy Gulch and a lot of east coast divers trained and got certified up there. Some actually on the bridge of my old Chris-Craft.
We sunk it so the hardtop was at 30 feet for diver qualifications. The interrior was used to train wreck divers not to get lost in a wreck. The last time I was up there was about 14 years ago and it was still in good shape then. Here's a picture of her before she was wrecked by the marina.

aquanut wrote:
This area is probably the best virgin area for old spanish shipwrecks anywhere!
Aquanut

I heard that Dave Horner once had a lease there, but don't know what he was looking for.

Here's another story someone emailed me.

"I did hear a story once about a dredge that was working somewhere around Cay Sal Bank. By the way, I believe it was Dennis who told me this story. So the story went, this dredge was cutting a channel. They would communicate with there office daily. When the office didn't hear from the dredge one day, the office sent out a boat to find out what was the matter. When they got to the dredge, it was abandoned. A new crew was assigned and when the new crew started the dredge they discovered the cutter head was jammed. When they inspected the cutter head, they discovered a gold bar was jamming the head. The story was that the crew dredged up some gold bars and when the head got stuck they took what they had and split. Now, I have to tell you,I have a lot of trouble believing even this story. Well, this is the only story I have about Cay Sal Bank. And only a story with no evidence to verify it what so ever."

P.S. There's an old drilling platform near the center of the Cay Sal Bank.