New Shipwreck - Take a stab at dating artifacts.

[Bobadilla]

Hi Goldust,

I can tell you my own experience and I am sure that my friend (and Boss) Rick Berry, President of North Caribbean Research, S.A. who has been living here on the island for more than 25 years would tell you the same. I have been living in Dominican Republic for more than 10 years now. I am adventurer by nature, I left my home when I was 17 ( I am 52 now...) and I have been travelling the world, mainly looking for treasure and mysteries of history. I came here to DR because of historic shipwrecks, my life hobby. I came here for two months, I stayed for ten years (so far, I hope more). The Dominicans are so extremely friendly towards foreigners, that you have probably no idea ho much. Everyhting has two sides of the coin, of course, it is third world country with all its positive and negatve things, like any other country of the Caribbean, Central America and South America. You can still see poverty in many places here but it does not mean that beacuse of that it is dangerous here. If you go in New York in the night you will be in bigger danger of life than in most of places here. Dominicans are very friendly and I have not heard of any case of some hater against any nation, less against Americans. Almost half million of Dominicans live in the USA. I had ben teaching languages in University for two years before I started to work full time with North Caribbean Research and my students were dreaming to learn English to be able to travel and visit the USA, to get some experience and make new friends.

I am telling you not only my own experience but also of many of my friedns living temporarily or permanently here in Dominican Republic. Do you know what would be the best, my friend? Come and see by yourself and you might be amazed....By the way. Dominican republic is considered one of the most economically stable countries of the Caribbean.

Regards,
Lobo
(Bobadilla)

 

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[Goldust]

Hi Bobadilla;

Thanks for the reply, it's always best to get first hand information. I appreciate your perspective. I've visited several of the Carribean islands but not the DR yet. Sounds like I need to put this one on my list. Would give my eye teeth to see cannon on the see floor. Saw a lot of WW II vehicles and war material while diving on Guam in the mid 70's, but no Spanish cannon.

Take care and live large!

 

[Goldust]

Hi Jack;

Not sure how much you're looking to spend on the boat but here is linkto a broker who has a lot of boats from 25 to 200 ft.

Good luck on you guys.

Goldust

http://commercial.apolloduck.us/index.phtml

 

[CanadianTrout]

Thanks guys at NCR! I watched al the videos and thought they were great.

You should start your own thread with all you have to share. Look forward to more.

 

[TheMuseumGuy]

I know this is off topic, but not sure where it best fits. Question is, how's th poitical environment in the DR. I've heard in the past that it was a bit unstable and not a healthy place for Americans. Just curious.

Goldust,

I just want to add to Dr. Lubos’ comments on the DR that I have been living and doing business with the government here since 1988 and I find the Dominicans a very warm, friendly and helpful people. It amazes me sometimes, for example if you break down on the road, how many people will stop to render assistance even helping to change your flat or giving you a lift to go for help.

One night I hit a cow and several cars stopped and a family took me and my girlfriend to the hospital, translated for us, waited for us to be released and then took us to our hotel and they had their 3 young kids with them and after helping us for 3 hours had to continue on their trip home another four hours probably arriving home well after midnight! I have many, many examples of just such situations both personally and many from other foreigners as well.

I have travelled the length and breadth of this country taking photos and sometimes I will stop to photo an interesting house or family and more times than not will end up invited into their home for coffee and conversation. How often does that happen in the States?

Our company works under contract with the government and the people we deal with are exceptional as well. Arq. Pedro Borrell, Director of the Commission (ONPCS), is a published author, a fantastic photographer and is very helpful to us along with Francis Soto Technical Director of the ONPCS and the conservation lab who is also not only very helpful but has turned into a very good personal friend to us all. The Minister of Culture, Lic. José Rafael Lantigua, takes the time to thoroughly explain the desires of his office and in the past when another company similar to ours found the Conception and it came time to do the division, they reported that the Commission was “more than fair” in the equitable division. This is a great place to do business and the people are great.

(If you happen to be a single guy, this is Heaven on Earth is all I will say right now about the women here other than they are outstandingly beautiful and extremely friendly and I have travelled to Africa, Europe, England, Canada, Mexico, virtually every state in the US and numerous other island nations in the Caribbean and here, I have decided, is where I will retire and never fear of being lonely again!)
Jack

 

[piratediver]

I have to agree with all the positive comments about the people of the D.R. I deal with their naval officers all the time here at the Naval War College and have one in my class now. All are friendly, helpful and have great senses of humor. I sponsored a captain from their navy years ago and he became like a brother to me. He went on to become an admiral and when he retired from the navy he went to law school and is now an attorney in Santo Domingo.

Pirate Diver

 

[TheMuseumGuy]

Thanks guys at NCR! I watched al the videos and thought they were great.

You should start your own thread with all you have to share. Look forward to more.

Thanks Canadian Trout! I guess you mean start our own section under shipwrecks since ScubaFinder started this thread for us. I think that would be a great idea as this is going to go on for years to come with updates and videos from myself, ScubaFinder and Bobadilla but I have no idea how to start one or even who to talk to to start one. I would imagine someone in charge would have to OK it and set it up for us as I doubt I could just "start" one on my own.

If anyone on here knows how that would be accomplished and thinks it would be a good idea also, please let me know how to go about it OK? AND if we did start one, could we carry over what is already on this thread or would we have to start from scratch? I also wonder if we can embed our live feeds from the excavation into it? Anyone know? I'm kinda new at this.

(Speaking of ScubaFinder, he has been without internet for at least a week or two now so no recent posts from him except for a quickie on April 28th and he has been out diving and finding new stuff and sites so he probably has lots to post even though the weather has been very uncooperative lately. He said he was going to try and come over to my place at the yacht club to get on and post...maybe later today, besides...he is a great guy to hang around with so I hope he can make it over!)

Oh, and thank you Goldust for the link for ships for sell, there is a 103' research vessel on there for $375,000 that looks pretty good! I am going to contact them and see if they maybe want to JV with us for part of the treasure in return for the use of their ship for awhile or part cash and part treasure or something like that. Wish us luck as we really, really need a bigger boat! (Who doesn't? HA!)
Jack

 

[Trond]

(If you happen to be a single guy, this is Heaven on Earth is all I will say right now about the women here other than they are outstandingly beautiful and extremely friendly and I have travelled to Africa, Europe, England, Canada, Mexico, virtually every state in the US and numerous other island nations in the Caribbean and here, I have decided, is where I will retire and never fear of being lonely again!)
Jack

I was a single guy before i went to the DR, now i`m happily married with a perfect woman,- and i have never been more happy. 6 years married in June, and in the mid of December we are back to live in the DR again. So i agree 100% with your statement Jack: The DR is heaven on Earth.

 

[Goldust]

Jack and piratediver;

Thanks for the personal insight into the DR. As I said, I've been to several of the carribean islands and have always found them to be some of the most beautiful places on earth. I v'e also found the people to be very friendly and giving, regardless of their material wealth.

I've been reading this forum since before Jason was "finder", that's been a while. I've followed the posts of jason, bobadilla, rgecy, conservator and the others with great interest. It has been a wonderful learing experiance.

Your posts now make me think I need to spend some vacation time in the DR. Any suggestions where I might get in a few dives and see anchor and cannon?

Hope the lead on the 103' ship pans out for you. If not, let me know and I'll spend some "research" time on the net and see what I can find. Glad to help in any way I can.

Luck be with you and the sea gods smile on your venture.

 

[ScubaFinder]

Keep your eyes open for the next video....we uncovered the timbers yesterday.

 

[TheMuseumGuy]

Jack and piratediver;

Thanks for the personal insight into the DR. As I said, I've been to several of the carribean islands and have always found them to be some of the most beautiful places on earth. I v'e also found the people to be very friendly and giving, regardless of their material wealth.

I've been reading this forum since before Jason was "finder", that's been a while. I've followed the posts of jason, bobadilla, rgecy, conservator and the others with great interest. It has been a wonderful learing experiance.

Your posts now make me think I need to spend some vacation time in the DR. Any suggestions where I might get in a few dives and see anchor and cannon?

Hope the lead on the 103' ship pans out for you. If not, let me know and I'll spend some "research" time on the net and see what I can find. Glad to help in any way I can.

Luck be with you and the sea gods smile on your venture.

Thanks again Goldust! We have actually been approached by a dive shop here that specializes in dive tours asking us if we want to do some kind of JV with them to bring divers down for a week or so to dive alongside us on wreck sites but there are a lot of details to work out so it may be awhile if we do it at all but we will keep you posted. We could use a little extra cash-flow but we don't want any kind of problems to crop up either. Also if you don't mind a little "research time" we would really appreciate it! Internet connection here is iffy at best and when I'm able to get on I need to upload videos and update the Website as fast as I can before I get knocked off again. It takes 1 to 2 hours to upload one minute of HD video at 0.20MBPS+/-!!!! We have decided to go for 100' plus Research Vessel up to 200'.

TROND...Look us up when you come back down!

Well, we found ship's timbers on the Maimon site as ScubaFinder mentioned above and Jason & Scott shot video of them and I put it together here for you all. Now that they have them cleaned off, tomorrow, weather willing, they will measure and photo them with a scale in the photo and then cover them back up again to protect them for further study later. No artifacts or ballast were found on or near them but it appears there are 3 wrecks all in the immediate area.

Let's see what tomorrow brings!
Jack

​

 

[ScubaFinder]

Not to try and upstage Jack, but here is one i did as well, for you techies this shows the real power of a decent dredge. I love the shot of the killer wave crashing on our heads...it got really dark under the white water and the noise was deafening. Not a place for the faint of heart, but I wouldn't be anywhere else right now. This is just one small section of the ship, the hull is right around the corner, both figuratively and literaly.



Jason

 

[Chagy]

thanks for giving me my a dose of medicine for this cabin fever......

Vaya con Dios, mi amigo....

 

[ScubaFinder]

I have full time internet back again. Luis, Siempre mi hermano.

Just a few comments to add to what Lubos and Jack said. Gimee, if you were referring to the specific area of these ships...the water goes from 120 ft. to surface piercing reefs in about 100 yards. The swells really build up big in this spot, and if you find yourself leaving Puerto Plata and getting caught in a storm, Maimon is one of the few safe harbors you have. The approaches are treacherous at best, and if you miss you're sunk.

In regards to the Dominican Republic, I've only been here for about 8 months, but I have no plans to return to the states anytime soon. It's really no different, if you go into the bad parts of large citys, bad things might happen just like anywhere else. In the small towns like Luperon things are quite nice. As for the women...

I've found the government here to be outstanding. It's rare that you find a place that can affectively balance the resources offered by commercial salvors and the need for proper documentation and study. Shipwrecks are not left to rot away on the ocean floor, but they are not destroyed by salvors either. We do a little extra work to properly document everything, and everyone comes out a winner. When a wreck of significant historical value is discovered, a University generally takes over and completes the archaeology. We have 3 university programs with working lease sites in our territory now.

We're continuing to follow our westerly line on the shipwreck. I thought maybe we'd get lucky and find the entire hull on the little reef in the video, but it looks like she made it around the corner and came to rest on the next reef line. It's a little calmer back in there, and there's more space for the boat too. Right now we anchor between two reefs that break the surface about 40 feet apart. The winds are shifting to our favor today, so we'll likely be on the hull within the next few days God willing.
Jas

 

[Larsmed]

Guys


Excellent posts!! Thanks. Continue to live your dreams! Theres enough history down there to fill many mueseums...


Larry

 

[Trond]

TROND...Look us up when you come back down!

Yes, i will do that.

 

[piratediver]

If any of you guys operating in the D.R. would like a great navy contact: I am currently teaching a class on shipwrecks and naval history and there is a LCDR from their navy with me as a student. He is a great guy and is sympathetic to our philosophy on shipwrecks.

Pirate Diver

 

[ScubaFinder]

We have an excellent relationship with the Marina de Guerra here already, but would certainly welcome more contacts. We park our dredge boat at the Comandancia and always have a Naval inspector onboard while we are working. If he's interested in shipwrecks and history, he might want to look into becoming an Naval inspector. They come along with us (and every salvor working here) to keep any rumors from circulating that we are not reporting finds, make sure we are respecting their laws and natural resources, and provide security for us while we are offshore. It's a great benefit to us to have them along, and everyone rests assured that we are following the protocols set forth by the commission. Sounds like he's got a pretty good deal where he's at, but it might be an option worth looking into.

We employ a retired Dominican Naval officer, and generally have 2 inspectors assigned to us at any given time. It just keeps everything honest and above board, which is how we like to do business and is also how the ONPCS has always treated us. They've got a great team there, and they have things well documented and controlled. If someone steps out of line (it happens) they are dealt with quickly and firmly and the good guys keep working. I've not yet seen a better system than the one they have put together here in the Dominican Republic.

Jason

 

[Bobadilla]

Hello,

Using terrible weather that we experience recently al over our lovely island, I did some reseacrh and studies in Santo Domingo museums and archives. I was allowed to go to the heart of the museum stores and here I would like to share with you something that we, North Caribbean Research team, expect to find by ourselves any minute..... Hope you enjoy.....

 

[ScubaFinder]

NICE! I assume that is from the Conception?

I'm hoping that day is tomorrow. Unfortunately I don't hold much hope that we can get into the scatter trail on top of the reef tomorrow near the single cannon. However, I've mapped all the coordinates and have a pretty good line of where the rest of the hull ended up, and we can definitely get in there with the blowers and dredges tomorrow. It looked a little better out there today, but once we got on site we decided it was just too dangerous to keep the skiff there...we would have swamped it for sure. Looks like we've got a 3 or 4 day window starting tomorrow that will allow us to finally see this baby...if it was easy it wouldn't be any fun.

Jason