Oak Island Awaits You Aboard Salty Dog Sea Tours.
WESTERN SHORE, N.S.- Imagine being on a tour boat where you get to see the beauty of the ocean and the coast of Nova Scotia, including the beautiful Mahone Bay Islands. Best of all, you will get to see the famous Oak Island, and all the mystery and intrigue that surrounds it.
Now imagine that this wonderful boat tour is guided by a professional diver, and a man who has been featured on the television show The Curse of Oak Island.
That’s what you get when you hop aboard Salty Dog Sea Tours, owned and operated by Tony Sampson out of Western Shore, Nova Scotia.
“Going around Oak island itself, you’ll actually see all the things you see from the TV show; you’d see Smith’s Cove, you’ll see the Money Pit area, and you’ll get a taste of being so close to what you actually see on TV. My tourists and the guests on the boat love it,” said Sampson.
“Some people come up here and they get so enthralled with Nova Scotia. I’ve actually had five of my clients over the last three years come up and see Nova Scotia and move from the USA to Canada.”
Like many people, Sampson discovered the mystery of Oak Island and its legendary buried treasure when he was just a child. His dad was a Reader’s Digest subscriber and one issue contained a long article on the infamous money pit. Years later, while working for a company in Afghanistan, a friend gave Sampson a copy of the book “The Treasures of Oak Island.”
Sampson has been into diving and shipwrecks since he was a teenager (two hobbies that go well together). He has travelled the world to dive for sunken booty. Over the years he has found such valuables like coins, bottles of champagne, and jewelry.
Back in 2006, Sampson, who was born in the UK, moved from British Columbia to Nova Scotia after meeting his now-wife out there. Being able to live in the province where Oak Island is located was too tempting to pass up.
“She dragged me back here; banged me on the head with tales of shipwrecks and treasure,” Sampson said with a laugh.
For many years, Sampson worked as a paramedic, but three years ago opened Salty Dog Sea Tours on a part-time basis with just one boat. Thanks to the tv show’s popularity, Oak island is now a popular subject with more people than ever, especially in the United States. Sampson estimates that 80 percent of his business during that first year came from Americans.
The tours were so popular, that he added a second vessel last summer and hired three skippers. Before Covid-19 came along and wreaked havoc on the tourism industry, Sampson was planning to operate five boats and hire six skippers for 2020. Instead, he is back to working alone on just one vessel.
“We just don’t have the numbers coming in without the tourists,” he said. “We are getting better; there are more people coming to do the staycation, but nowhere near what we had before Covid.”
Over the last three years, Sampson has been able to converse with countless tourists who are enthusiastic about the mystery of Oak Island. He has heard some very interesting theories into who, or what, might have stashed some loot along the coast of Nova Scotia.
“Everything from Romans and Egyptians to Aliens,” said Sampson.
So, what does Sampson believe about Oak island? Did pirates bury something in the Money Pit hundreds of years ago?
“Well I don’t know if it was pirates,” said Sampson. “There have been so many different things that have been found on the island. And it’s not just Oak Island where stuff has been found. All around the coast of Nova Scotia, this place is called the ‘the graveyard of the Atlantic’.”
Sampson says approximately 25,000 ships may be laying at the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Nova Scotia. That means there must be countless artifacts waiting for discovery. Sampson is very much an optimist and, just like he’s sure the tourism industry will turn around, he is sure there is treasure in this province.
“In my mind, and what keeps me awake at night is I believe there’s still a treasure lying at the bottom of the ocean, waiting to be found.”