Cabeza de Vaca wrote that he "...sighted land on Tuesday, the 12th day of April, 1528... then followed the coast of Florida, and on Holy Thursday cast anchor at the mouth of a bay..." implying that he did so on April 14th. The most important date on the Spanish Calendar, Easter Sunday, would have followed on April 17th according to his statement. History's dilemma is that Easter Sunday occurred on April 12th in 1528, not on April 17th. Historians never examined Vaca's critical error before now and have, accordingly, grossly misjudged his Florida landing place. Vaca's people were offloaded and the ships departed.


 Timing Complications (Below)         Vaca's Journey

Easter Sunday, according to ancient tradition, occures on the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox. In 1528 the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox (of March 21st) occurred at midnight between Saturday, April 4th and Sunday, April 5th. Easter Sunday, accordingly, was celebrated on the following Sunday, the 12th of April. Vaca's memory of the 12th of April being the date upon which he first sighted Florida was probably confused with that date. Had he sighted land on the 12th of April, Easter Sunday, he certainly would have remembered that coincidence, but alas, he did not. He actually sighted Florida on the Tuesday before Easter, on April 7th, several days after Full Moon.

Florida coastal landings are dramatically effected by Moon Phases. Until Florida's Gulf Coast Harbors were channelized during the last century, they were impassable for large ships except on particular moon phases. Spring Tides, which only occur around New and Full Moons, dramatically increase the tide's amplitudes, which made Florida's harbors naturally passable for large ships for brief periods each month. Given that Cabeza sighted Florida on Tuesday, April 7th, 1528, he had missed the opportunity to enter many of Florida's Gulf Coast harbors in Spanish Galleons on the Spring Tides of April 4th and 5th. His captain's mandate to off-load starving horses from the ships set off a series of mishaps which can only be understood in the context of Lunar Time. With all due respect, previous historians have failed to place Cabeza de Vaca's activity in that critical space and time frame. In doing so they have misunderstood Vaca for centuries. DeVaca landed at Englewood, Florida.

Having misjudged his and DeSoto's landing place, previous historians have mistaken Vaca's and DeSoto's trails through Florida altogether, omitted Vaca's Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana exploits completely, and misplaced Vaca's trail through Texas.