Three Hundred and two years ago in the early morning hours of July 31, 1715, one of the assembled was in trouble. Carrying a fortune in gold, silver and jewels from Spain’s New World Empire, the Fleet was trying to outrun an ominous storm pursuing it up the Florida Straits. The bulky treasure-laden galleons were not fast enough. By 2 a.m. 100 mile per hour winds, torrential rains and mountainous 30 foot waves broke over the Fleet. A category 4 or 5 hurricane had caught the Sp

Here is a little history on our first dive location for our Sunken Treasure Workshop. The original name of the El Infante was Nuestra Señora de Balvaneda and she was an armed galleon in the Flota that belonged to King Philip V. Built in 1724, she had a capacity of 400 ton and was one of the Flota's largest ships carrying 60 cannon for protection. She is also occasionally referred to as refuerzo as she had been constructed with sacrificial planking to help keep ship worms fr