The Pirates of Las Tortugas

Did you know there IS buried pirate treasure here in Cayman that has yet to be found? Oh yeah! I had read about this before moving to Cayman and found it fascinating but when I asked a local about it, she quickly dismissed the idea, saying if there was any treasure to be found, it would have been long time ago. But that's not what a pirate told me yesterday.

Oh yeah, I met a few pirates yesterday in Georgetown for its Heritage Day. Real pirates! Cayman has about 35 pirates and they're all real and known as the Pirates of Las Tortugas. At first I didn't believe them, but it's true. It was their pirate ancestors that one might have been afraid of. There is a reason why Pirates Week is integrated with Heritage Days all over Cayman. It is partly their heritage. Back in the day, pirates took refuge in many Caribbean islands during their raids, in a attempt to avoid the 'authorities' sent forth by the British. It's only natural that they planted roots in many of the Caribbean islands, and not to mention buried treasure as well. According to this pirate, there are about five treasures that have remained hidden for ages, that no one has been able to unearth. No one knows where they are and the search continues. Fascinating!


As we began talking about the Pirate Soul Museum in Key West and of the world's only surviving treasure chest, which I have re posted here, he began to regale us on how the owner of the Museum has collected quite a wealth of pirate artifacts from all around the world, especially difficult since 99% of the world's pirate treasure has been lost to the seas. He made mention of the silver coins and how back in the day how each pirate would a pay of a silver coin (Also known as Piece of Eight) as they docked off. Each coin weighed about 28 grams each and was each worth 8 reales, to later have little bits be cut out it to pay for various different things like food, rum, lodging. He made mention of how many times the coins would have a V shaped cut in them. Of course, I had to come back and dig through my photo archives of the Spanish Coins that currently lie at the Museum. And sure enough he was right!