Mel Fisher's Treasure Museum. The Museum tells all about the Fisher family's salvaging operation and how they've found priceless treasures from ancient shipwrecks -- in particular the 1715 Spanish treasure fleet that was wrecked in a hurricane just off the coast of Florida. 
A lot of the items found were religious, like this rosary and cross. 
And some were more "practical" like this "poison cup" which has a framework in the bottom to hold a beazoar -- a stone that was said to absorb poison so that even if your drink was poisoned you would be protected. 
Of course, there were also gold and silver coins and huge bars of gold and silver too. There were chains and rings and lockets and candlesticks and lots of other assorted things. 
One interesting thing was that the gold that was made into necklaces wasn't taxed, so naturally people travelled with huge long necklaces of gold so they could transport the gold without paying a tax on it. Some of the gold necklaces were 6 or 8 feet long and made out of large chunky loops. 
Some of the treasures that were salvaged are displayed in the museum and some are actually for sale in the gift shop. Linda bought a pendant that was made from a 1715 silver coin. It's oddly shaped because coins in those days weren't necessarily round. Once they were made by hand they were weighed and if they were a little heavy some of the coin was cut away. Similarly, if you needed to make payment and it cost less than a full coin, you'd just cut away the portion you needed to pay. So Linda's odd-shaped coin is really full of history.
Today is my third full day of complete solitude in Florida. I came down on Sunday and drove to Vero Beach and I have accomplished very little since. I'm supposed to be looking for a cheap used car so we don't have to pay the ridiculous rental car rates, but I've struck out so far. My only real prospect was sold yesterday to someone else while I waffled about whether a 2 hour drive to Orlando to look at another car was worthwhile. I decided it wasn't and then the first car was gone. I've spent a great deal of my so-called vacation time on this car business and now Jeff tells me just to wait until he gets here on Friday.
So, what should I do with myself? When I wasn't looking for cars, I've been knitting a pair of socks and reading a novel. I've been able to relax a good bit, but I've hardly been out of the room. I'm not the type who's afraid to eat out or see a movie alone -- but it's certainly less fun alone. I'm not too keen on swimming and with my melanoma history I shouldn't do any sunbathing and it doesn't seem like too much fun to sit alone by the pool even with a book. I have a fantastic view of the ocean from my hotel room, so I've been reading on the balconey. 
This morning I woke up at 5 a.m. (probably partly due to the time change) and when the sun started to come up I took a picture of it coming up over the waves. There were really too many clouds in the way, but I'm a lazy bug and I rarely see sunrises of any type. So, I enjoyed this one. 
