Welcome to my new story. This is a Damon and Elena story built around the real life search and recovery of the 'Nuestra Senora de Atocha'. Enjoy and I'll see you at the bottom.

Clutching my prize firmly in my hand I swim to the ocean's surface. Once I reach the boat, I latch onto the side and pull myself out of the water, treasure in hand. It's a very long gold chain with a emerald encrusted crucifix on the end of it. It's a thing of unparalleled beauty.

"Damon, what's that?" Elena yelps, her wide eyes focused on the necklace. "It's exquisite," she says breathily.

"I saw a glint of something reflecting off the beam of my flashlight as if it was hitting a mirror. When I waved the sand away," mimicing the motion of waving my hand, "It was right there. It's stunning isn't it?"

"Absolutely. Do you think there's anything else down there?"

"I don't know, Elena," I start to say before being interrupted by Jenna, my buddy Ric's girlfriend.

"Wow, what do you have there?" she says, her eyes wide with awe.

"I was looking in the right place I guess. From the corner of my eye, I saw a glint of it. I had to dig a little but I finally got it free. It's... there are no words," I reply in wonderment.

"What Elena said, do you think anything else is down there?"

"We'll have to go back down there to see if there's anything else to find. We have to prove its authenticity. Somehow we have to establish a 'provenance'. Once we do, it'll be worth millions. This is 24 karat gold. It'll be priceless if we can prove it came from the 1622 fleet," I tell them, unable to take my eyes off of my find.

Before long, Stefan and Bonnie haul themselves out of the water and onto the deck of our treasure salvage ship, 'The Elena'. I named her after my beautiful wife. My name is Damon Salvatore. My wife, Elena and I own a treasure salvaging business. Each and everyday I have to think of new and innovative ways to come up with the cash needed to fund operations and keep my business afloat. We've found a handful of raw emeralds, pieces of eight and pottery before. What we've found has so far been enough to keep our investors cash flowing. That money is very much needed to fund salvage operations.

We've been working in this area for nearly three weeks now. It's a large shoal, the west part of which is known as The Quicksands, extends eighteen miles west from the Marquesas Keys. The shoal is about four and a half miles wide between the eighteen-foot curves and has a depth of at least two feet over its east part. A strong east to west current is observed in this area of The Quicksands.

"I'm going to radio Ric to tell him what we've found. He had a meeting with a potential investor today. I think if Ric can show him this, hopefully he'll want in," I tell her, smiling.

"Elena, sweetheart, can you take a picture and text it to him?"

Smiling herself, she nods and runs to grab her phone. I put the necklace over my head, lifting the crucifix so it's front and center in the photo. Once she snaps the picture, I take it off to put it in a safe place just as Jeremy and his wife Anna climb aboard. Jeremy, who is my wife's older brother, is holding a silver bar in his hand. He is very good and very methodical at what he does. It was through him that I met Elena. I went to college with Jeremy studying archeology, specifically 'nautical archeology' or the science of shipwrecks. Somehow he managed to wrangle me a spot to participate in a dive to view the wreckage of Blackbeard's ship, 'The Queen Anne's Revenge'. Her final resting place is located off the North Carolina coast. I was completely in awe just being able to take in all that history. We even got to help bring a cannon to the surface. That's when I knew I wanted to dive shipwrecks for a living.

I went home with Jeremy for a weekend and that's how I met Elena. She's a couple of years younger than Jeremy and me. It really was love at first sight for both us. We eloped three months after we met and have never looked back. We've been together five years now. I worked on a commercial fishing ship for a couple of years. It's one of the most dangerous occupations but it does pay well. We lived as frugally as we could so we were able to save enough money to buy our own salvage boat. Once we did, we relocated to Key West, Florida.

Elena and I were out sailing one afternoon. After anchoring the boat, we donned our scuba gear and jumped in. Elena practically flew to the surface, giddy to show me a coin she found. It was a doubloon. I'll never forget the bright smile she wore that day. Not long after, Jeremy and his wife, Anna joined us. We pooled our resources, sharing an apartment, doing odd jobs and anything we could to earn money to fund the business. Elena took a job as a bartender while I worked construction.

One day everything just came together. The four of us were out diving when I found a gold bar. It was beautiful and it's marking indicated that it was Spanish gold from the seventeenth century. I took it to a very old friend of mine, Ric Saltzman. He's a research fellow and amateur treasure hunter himself. Once he saw the gold, he threw his lot in with us... Thus 'Salvatore Treasure Hunters' was born.

My parents are none to happy about my choice of occupations. They are especially upset that Stefan and his wife Bonnie turned caution to the wind and moved down to Key West to join in the 'fun' as Stefan called it. Mom and dad feel that I'm chasing a pipe dream and worry about not only my welfare but also that of Elena, Stefan and Bonnie. Treasure hunting is dangerous and has lead to disaster before. I always make sure that everything is in optimal working condition and make sure our oxygen tanks are full before we even leave the dock. I think my dad is a bit envious at times. When mom and dad spend time here in Key West with Stefan and me, dad does enjoy putting on the scuba gear and diving into the deep along with us. As luck would have it, he was fortunate enough to find a Megalodon tooth on one of those dives. He barely let go of it long enough to let the rest of us have a look. I love my parents dearly, I just wish they would have a little faith in me.

"Damon! My Lord, that's unbelievably gorgeous. The clarity of these emeralds is exquisite," Ric says, his eyes wide as he runs his fingers over the crucifix part of the chain.

"They're Colombian emeralds. They are without compare. Listen Ric, You and I both know how valuable this is but we'll have to establish a provenance before we can prove it's real value. Are you and Brady up for a trip to Seville to go through the archives? If you could find mention of this on one of the ship's manifests, it becomes priceless."

"Seville as in Spain?" he says incredulously.

"Yep. That's where the 'Archives of the Indies' are buddy," I reply, unable to take my eyes off the piece.

"Brady is a historian and you have experience in archiving and research. With any luck, between the two of you, maybe you can find some mention of this cross. Can you even imagine Ric? We could finally be on the cusp of a real historical find," I gush.

Just then Elena makes her way over to us. "Did you have a nap, sweetheart?" I ask, placing a kiss to her forehead when she snuggles into me.

"Yep, I did. What do you think of it Ric?" she asks him.

"It's beautiful beyond words, Elena."

"Ric and I have been talking about sending him along with Brady to Seville to research the archives. What do you think?"

"I think it's a great idea but I'd like to go too. I mean, I do have my degree in library science. I think I could be a real asset to the search."

"Oh honey, I know you would. I'd just miss you so much," I tell her squeezing her tightly. She smiles then reaches up to press a kiss to my lips.

"I'll miss you too but we'll get back sooner if I'm helping them, don't you think?" she reasons.

"Yeah, you're right. Why don't you get on line and look for a flight? You'll need to book some lodging too. Maybe you can get by with two rooms. Ric and Brady can share a room and you could have one of your own," I tell her, still holding her close.

"I love you," I whisper in her ear as she pulls away to get on the computer.

Seville, Spain: Elena:

"Brady, look at this," I say as I point to the part of the journal I want him to pay attention to.

'Nuestra Senora De Atocha, was a Spanish Galleon that sailed the western hemisphere in 1622. That same year during a ferocious storm, she sunk as the current grew stronger and the hurricane's waves made the voyage very dangerous for the crew and the ship. Many shipmates tried to go below deck to ensure their own safety. There was no room as the Atocha's cargo of silver bars, coins and gold took up too much space. She was carrying 47 tons of silver and gold which carried her right down to the sea floor. Not long after the Atocha sank, The Santa Margarita, her sister ship also went down. During that hurricane, eight ships out of twenty eight that made the journey sank.

A salvage effort was launched in an attempt to recover anything that remained of the Atocha. The salvagers found five people hanging onto the ship's mast that was partially sticking out of the water. They had been clinging to the mast for five days before they were found. The King of Spain sent pearl divers from the Island Migrate to see what could be salvaged from the wreck. The ship was found to be intact but all the hatches were battened. They were only able to recover two bronze canyons. The divers left bouys at the site for identification purposes then left the site to retrieve tools to enter the ship and salvage the riches. While they were gone, another hurricane hit taking both the bouys and the Atocha with it. Everyday for fifty years they searched for her to no avail.

"Great job, Elena. You've found the manifest, construction records, a description of her armaments and details of Spain's attempts to recover her treasure over many decades. Why don't you look over the manifest so we can see if our cross is listed. It might have been contraband too but if we can find something that indicates where the ship may have gone down... well," Brady replies, his voice teaming with excitement.

"From what we do know," Ric adds, "she's believed to be located in the upper and lower Matecumbe of the central Keys."

Ric scans a few more pages then turns to Brady and I. "See here," he says pointing out the text he wants us to see. "Here's a reference to 'cayos de Marquez' named for the Marquis. When we compare the maps, I think they're referring to.."

"The Marquesas Keys," I interrupt.

"Yes, Elena, exactly. From the records, the salvagers believed the lower hull to lay in a depth of approximately fifty four feet. The Marquesas Keys have a shallower depth than that of the Matecumbe."

"Let's call Damon tonight and give him the information. Gentleman, I think we may be on the right track finally," I announce giddily as I high five both Ric and Brady.

A big thanks to Eva who without her invaluable assistance, there would be no story. Also a special thanks to Kate for the lovely cover image. I hope I've intrigued you enough to follow along with the story. As with all my stories, this one is already written in its entirety. Please do hit that review button and let me know what you think. Please check out my other story, 'Breathe'. Have a lovely weekend. Until next chapter...