Pirates of the Caribbean
Divers search for hidden golden bars off O.C. coast
By treasures | On 05/08/2011 | In Miscellaneous
By Kathy Ochiai - Newport Beach Patch
In the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Orlando Bloom's character Will Turner states, "I'm not obsessed with treasure." Scuba divers off the coast of Laguna Beach might feel the same way as they spend days looking for "golden bars" placed by the Sport Chalet sporting goods chain as part of their annual treasure hunt.
Six of these bars have been hidden in various locations. The "golden bars" are actually T-bar weights painted gold, but they represent Sport Chalet gift cards worth $1,000, $3,000 or $5,000.
Three bars were placed off the coast of Southern California, and two have been found. Two other found bars were placed in Northern California and Arizona.
This leaves one bar unfound as of the posting of this article (Aug. 3). Which is why yesterday on Wednesday divers were stacked up like planes over LAX off the coast of Laguna Beach. They were searching for the remaining Sport Chalet "treasure bar."
Laguna Sea Dwellers Sherri Cubillos and Russ Follmer brought their friend and "rogue diver" Daniel O'Hara out to give the treasure hunt a try.
"We’re just going for our regular dive, but we know about the gold bar and we know that there’s one left because someone found the one at Shelly," Cubillos said, referring to the three-foot statue imbedded in the sand in about 30 feet of water off Shaw's Cove.
