Mel Fisher's Treasure Museum
Sebastian, Florida
A pair of crossed cutlasses on the exterior and a treasure chest next to the parking lot announce Mel Fisher's Treasure Museum, opened in a former fire house by Taffi Fisher Abt, Mel's daughter, in 1992. A small hoard of formerly sunken booty is displayed, much of it salvaged from a Spanish treasure fleet that sank off of Florida in 1715. Visitors peer through a window at workers cleaning the latest artifacts hauled from the seabed, and a special "Lift a Gold Bar" porthole allows you to stick your hand into a secure room and feel the heft of wealth. You can buy treasure in the "Bounty Room" gift shop, although the prices on the nicer pieces are, appropriately, cutthroat.
The cleaning lab is reported to only be viewable by the public in the summer.