Thanks for all the greetings and kind words.
I have to admit I am not a very good treasure hunter and even less of a treasure finder. My biggest finds have historically been old cars languishing in barns in the middle of nowhere. I've done some metal detecting around old homesteads which have paid off a time or two.
Short version of life story follows in order to answer some questions posed:
When I was 2 years old my parents moved us from Miami to the middle of Kansas. My grandparents and parents have raised and raced greyhounds since the mid 1930's. Once or twice a year we would go see my Mom's folks and family who were still in Florida. One of Mom's brothers was quite the beach rat and had found several gold coins on the beach and in the water back in the 1950's and 1960's. He was very proud of them and every time we'd go see Uncle Paul he'd pull them out of his safe and tell us how and where he'd found each one. Over the years he kept me up to date on all the reasons why I should move back to Florida and go find treasure with him. Unfortunately life got in the way and I spent the next 35 or 40 years landlocked in Kansas raising greyhounds and getting just an ocassional trip to somewhere with an ocean (and a dog track).
During the decades in Kansas I rodeoed for quite a few years, competing as a team roper. Since there were a million people that wanted to rope the steer by the head (that being the more exciting role) I learned to heel cattle and did it pretty well. That led to my original nickname: Ropesfeet. A truck wreck took out my shoulder and my rodeoin' days were through.
I ran horseback all-age field trial bird dogs for a decade or two to fill the void and had some successes. Adrenaline addiction is expensive habit.
When I was getting closer to turning 50 I read Jimmy Buffett's book "A Pirate Looks at 50" again and decided that I needed to do something before I was to old and crippled up to do anything fun.
In 2005 I retired and went back to college in...you guessed it...Florida. I attended Brevard Community College and UCF. I managed to get BS degrees in Mechanical Design and Operations Engineering Technology and an AS in Electronics Engineering Technology, graduating in May 2010. I had planned to attend the FIT Ocean Engineering program, but realized that graduating at 54 or 55 was enough of a handicap, Ocean Engineering is, IMHO, a degree that postions you more for a graduate degree than going straight into the workforce. Not enough time left to do a Master's, no matter how much I'd like to. I wanted to build stuff.
I've spent the last year in Kansas taking care of my aging parents. We leave next week to return to Florida for good...or at least a good long while.
With all that said...I am more of a "how you do it" guy than a historical researcher. I've built an ROV or two and have got some ideas about using autonomous surface vessels for doing mag and sonar survey work. I've also been toying with a new approach to working in very shallow water environments in active surf zones.
I dive, I build stuff and I have some big plans for finding stuff...am I gonna fit in?
Oh yes...when I told one of my old roping partners that I was moving to Florida he asked "What the heck are you gonna do in Florida,
rope fish?" I said..."yep". I just have to rope them with a circle hook.
OK..enough about me...thanks again for the warm welcome
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