How did I get into this anyway?
I’ve always had a fascination for water. From my earliest memory forward. It is surprising to think about it however, since I have had two very traumatic experiences with water as well. I drowned in our well in Kodiak Alaska when I was 14 months old. My father had been servicing our fresh water well which was in the basement of our home. The 150 pound square hatch cover was canted a few degrees to expose 4 small opening at each corner. Mom was doing laundry and suddenly got one of those “mom” feelings, and knew immediately that I had fallen in the well. She threw aside the cover and climbed into the well, swinging her body over to the side of the well and skinnying down the plumbing pipe. The water was about 8 feet deep and around 33 degrees. She slid into the water and dove to the bottom feeling around the rocky bottom until she found something soft, me. She picked me up and squeezed out the water and somehow got me breathing. She then climbed back up the pipe reaching out to push me up through the hole in the center of the well. She lacked the strength to climb out herself however, so she hung there for 2 hours waiting for my brother to come home from school and bring a neighbor to help her out. I lay there on the floor waiting also.
Four years later, Kodiak was hit with a 9.2 scale earthquake that lasted over 5 and one half minutes. The earthquake was devastating, but it was also followed by 7 tidal waves. We were caught up in the first one barely escaping it as it almost engulfed our van. I watched the other ones quietly, but was scarred by the experience.
So how does this fit with my favorite TV show of all time? Sea Hunt with Loyd Bridges. Was there ever an episode where his air lines weren’t cut? Yet I’d swim across the floor pretending, or spend hours in the tub with my mask and snorkel “diving”.
We moved from Kodiak Alaska to Nassau Bahamas as I was turning ten years old. My father was a bush pilot, and his specialty was flying the Grumman Goose. A twin-engine flying boat for those that don’t know aircraft. Sometimes I’d fly with him, and we’d land near some small, uninhabited island, anchor the plane (I love saying that), and go snorkeling right there. I never knew that this was something special, it was just how it was. One very fateful day, Mel Fisher sailed his small scale galleon into Nassau harbor. I quickly befriended Kim and Kane Fisher, and soon we were climbing the yard arms and diving into the harbor. Until Mel’s wife put a stop to that. Dirk Fisher, Mel’s eldest son, wore a Spanish coin around his neck, and my brother Marc and I were bitten at an early age with the “treasure” bug.
Fast forward a few years and I was finishing my second year of college at the University of Washington. Marc saw an ad in the newspaper which read “divers wanted, share expenses and profits”. We decided to check it out. We went down to Lake Union in Seattle where the boat was tied to the dock being fitted for salvage work. When we finished touring the boat, we both could hardly contain our excitement. But, the share of expenses was $5,000. This is 1978, and we were college kids. Marc was always resourceful though. He had been buying and selling Mercedes SL sports cars for several years. He owned a 280 SL outright, which he sold and invested into the treasure hunt. I, on the other hand did not have a Mercedes. I did have a Datsun 1600 roadster, which I sold but was still $3000 light. Marc helped me by finding others to invest in the project under my “spot” on the boat. I was in. But not without a few very sleepless and long nights thinking I might miss out.
We sailed out of Lake Union headed for the Caribbean in search of Spanish Galleons and the treasure they held June of 1978.
We pulled into Key West one day in early 1979, and Mel Fisher met us at the dock. He had the “Atocha Project” a treasure galleon sunk near Key West, and we had the best equipped treasure hunting boat. Mel struck a deal with our project leader, and the next thing you know Marc and I were out on the Atocha diving for treasure. Dirk Fisher had died tragically a few years earlier, but Kim and Kane were there. I had many flashbacks to the group of kids scrambling up the rigging on Mel’s Galleon as I dove on a real Treasure Galleon shipwreck.
For some, one expedition was enough. Many if not most left after one expedition. Truthfully, it isn’t a full time career for most. There are many reasons, but the main one is that it is just so far out of the box that many are uncomfortable there. Not so for Marc and I. We were hooked. Conforming back into society and working 9-5, 40 hours a week seemed as foreign to us as treasure hunting seemed for most of the others.
55 years after I was playing pirate on Mel’s Galleon, I’m still looking for treasure. The circumstances are different, but the dream, the thrill and the “rush” is still the same. Mel used to say “Today is the Day”. Is there a truer statement? Live it like there is no tomorrow.
Written By: Krist Geriene
Published February 10, 2023 2:00pm EST
