6/11/2023 0 Comments Idive st.augustine![]() “He went up to the fort, by ship, where he discovered that the French had a very large fleet,” Arbesú explains. But by the time Menéndez arrived in Florida in August 1565, he discovered that a force of French reinforcements had arrived before him, according to David Arbesú, an associate professor of Spanish at the University of South Florida and editor and translator of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés: A New Manuscript, an account of the expedition by Menéndez’s brother-in-law, Gonzalo Solís de Merás. Philip wanted him to destroy the French colony before France could send military forces to Florida to protect it. Johns River, Florida by Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés in September 1565. The massacre of the French at Fort Caroline on the St. Spanish Colonists, Outnumbered, Get Lucky Spain’s King Philip II wanted the French threat eliminated, particularly because the settlers were Protestants and to Philip, a Catholic, that made them intolerable. A French base in Florida posed a potential threat not just to Spanish territorial claims, but also to the Spanish treasure fleet that sailed from South America and Mexico along the Florida coast before heading across the Atlantic to Spain. The previous year, the French had established an outpost at Fort Caroline, near present-day Jacksonville. Instead, Menéndez’s primary mission was simple: Get rid of French Huguenot colonists who were trying to usurp the Spanish claim. And unlike other colonizers, he wasn’t out to find gold or set up a trading network with the Native tribes. Menéndez’s expedition wasn’t the first group of Spanish explorers who tried to start a colony in Florida, which Juan Ponce de León had claimed for Spain back in 1513. Menéndez picked the colony’s name because he originally spotted the site on August 28, the feast day of St. There’s no uncertainty about how to extend the handles or retract them, no fumbling in either direction.Even before Jamestown or the Plymouth Colony, the oldest permanent European settlement in what is now the United States was founded in September 1565 by a Spanish soldier named Pedro Menéndez de Avilés in St. The handles also are wide-set, and have a very definite detent for locking them extended, and a very purposeful button to release the handle. The Akona bag has a handle long enough that it can sit back and take it’s own step on an escalator, instead of riding on my heels. I’m pretty tall, so I tend to kick my bag a lot when striding through cruise ship ports or airport terminals. Maybe I’m missing something?Īnother unanticipated feature of the Akona Adventure bag was the extra-long handle. I imagine if you do not have wheels on your bag, the ability to use it as a backpack would be very handy. My old blue bag has the ability to be worn as a backpack, however, I’ve never cared to put 50 plus pounds on my back when I could simply roll it. ![]() Having a heavy bag roll over can possibly result in a twisted wrist not what you want right before diving. Very handy.Īnother enormously wonderful feature of this bag is the wide-set wheels it’s a non-tipping wheelbase! My old bag, shown below, has a narrower wheelbase, and tends to roll over at crucial moments – like when trying to look calm and competent going through customs, and suddenly, I’m struggling with a flipped bag and ruffled composure. The Akona bag has some unexpected fantastic features in one of the side pockets, there are specifically-designed pouches to hold items that normally get lost or fall to the bottom of a bag pens, cell phone charger, small items. And I thought I was going to get a bit more thrust power after curling them! I guess not. I did read that they relax back to a normal shape quickly. I read about whether or not bending your fins is an absolute “no-no,” and the only information I could find was along the lines of not leaving them like that for long periods of time, or in hot rooms, or if they are of the thicker rubber construction. ![]() Given the ability to place this bag in an overhead compartment on an airplane, I think that’s an acceptable compromise. I suppose the Akona bag’s outside appearance is deceptive, because it sure holds a great deal of gear.Īfter sorting all my dive gear, I was able to put it all in the Akona bag with only one slight concern my fins had to be curved a bit to fit in the bag. I conducted a quick comparison of my ten year-old standard rolling duffle bag, and the compact and stable Akona bag, and I found that I can fit only a larger wetsuit and a few other items more in the larger bag. Testing out the capacity of the Akona Adventure Rolling Bag, a “less than seven pound bag” holds a lot of dive gear.
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