Getting into the Santa Maria is a main story objective when you first sail to the Buffalo region. Without clearing it, you won’t be able to continue the storyline, though you can still explore the various locations. You’ll need the Captain’s Key to figure out what happened to the ship. Here is how to find the Captain’s Key in Survival: Fountain of Youth.
How to Get the Santa Maria Captain’s Key in Survival: Fountain of Youth
Your first task when you sail to the Buffalo region is to find the Santa Maria. Located to the left, it’s crashed upon a group of small islands. You can see the mast poles sticking up from the rocks, which should lead you to the best landing point.
Arriving at the wreck, you’ll find a few skeletons and the locked Captain’s Cabin. There’s a cannon barrel you can carry, though taking it toward the edges of the ship will cause it to automatically drop.
To proceed further, you have to enter the hold. This is the crisscross wooden section in the middle of the ship. There’s a small metal door in the corner that you need to open. It’s the left corner when coming from the locked Captain’s Cabin. If it’s night, definitely have a torch lit, as the door is easy to overlook.
Carrying the cannon barrel, head down into the hold. There’s no light down here, but you’ll be able to make out a stand for it. Right in front of it is a torch you can light to aid in your search.
Your goal is to fire the cannon and open the brig. You’ll need to find gunpowder and a cannonball in the hold. There’s only one door that isn’t closed up, but it’s blocked with a chest. It’s almost directly behind where the cannon is. I went over this space multiple times without seeing the opening until I had a light. Using a torch definitely makes this search much easier.
There are three hallways through the opening. The room to the left has a cannonball, while the room to the right has a bag of gunpowder. Going straight gets you a Rope made of Skin and Wood Chips found behind the crates.
Load up the cannon, light the fuse, and wait for the blast to go off. When the air clears, the brig is open and waiting to be explored. Inside, there’s a bottle of Alcohol, needed to craft many potions, behind the bottom shelf of the wooden rack to your right. There are other Wood Chips on the rack, as well.
Go into the opening to your right and then push through the crates blocking a door to the left. Inside here, you’ll find a Ship Bed, which grants 20 Energy per hour of sleep. A Set of Tools can be found behind the open door.
Return to the hallway and head up to the room on the right, where the Key to the Captain’s Cabin is found on a bench. Behind the stack of sacks is two units of Wood Chips. Now, you can access the Captain’s quarters and learn what happened to the Santa Maria.
That’s how to find the Captain’s Key on the Santa Maria in Survival: Fountain of Youth. If you’re stuck trying to sail to different regions or want to know where the best places to build a base are, check out our Survival: Fountain of Youth guides.
