Ultimate Marquesas Islands Fishing Adventure

Where the Spaniards Spent Their Winters

Long before Key West became a city, the remote Marquesas Keys served as seasonal camps for Spanish salvagers searching for treasure from wrecked fleets.

When hurricanes tore through the Florida Straits, Spanish ships carrying gold, silver, and cargo were driven onto the reefs and shallow waters surrounding these isolated atolls. Salvage crews—known as buzos—would spend months here each winter recovering treasure from the wrecks.

Several ships from the famous 1622 Spanish Treasure Fleet sank in nearby waters, and the legendary Nuestra Señora de Atocha remained lost for more than three centuries before treasure hunter Mel Fisher discovered it in 1985 not far from these islands.

Today, as you fish and explore the Marquesas, your captain may share stories of these early salvagers, the historic wrecks nearby, and how this remote atoll evolved from a treasure hunting outpost into one of the most pristine fishing grounds in the Florida Keys.