You Can Visit Oak Island, but You Should Probably Leave Your Shovel at Home

It's hard not to love treasure-hunting movies. This is especially true for ones where the moral of the story is "perhaps the real treasure was the friends we made along the way." Gets me every time. 

But yeah, finding a mythical bounty hiding in some cove or x-marked spot lined with centuries-old clues is pretty cool too, which is probably why so many people are obsessed with History Channel's Curse of Oak Island, and whether or not one can stay on the rumored spot of purported treasure.

There are a few things to consider, however. Before you start packing your bags filled with metal detectors and shovels and begin finding out ways to get spelunking equipment shipped to the island, you need to remember that it's privately owned. 

I mean, how would you like it if someone came into your backyard and started digging out the jungle gym you set up for your kids because they think there are doubloons hiding in your dirt? You probably wouldn't be too keen to see that unravel as you're looking out your bay window washing dishes, now would you? 

78 percent of the entire island is owned by the Lagina brothers, so there's a good chance that any digging you want to get done has to be completed with their say so.

Oak Island is located on Nova Scotia, on the east coast of Canada, so if you're traveling to there from the U.S., you're going to need a valid passport to get there. The closest airport to Oak Island is Halifax (code YHZ) so when you're setting up your travel itinerary, make sure you put that as your destination to minimize your travel time to the island. From the Halifax airport, it's about another 20 miles or so until you're on the island.

There are also dozens of hotels on Oak Island (around 84 or so, according to Google) and when the weather's nice, it's a pretty great beach town. Since the show has a lot to do with the island's popularity these days, there are tons of themed tours and destinations you can visit while on the island.

Cast members from the program also regularly hold events there, so if you wanted to meet the explorers from the long-running History channel series, you'll be able to do that as well.

Canada's travel restrictions are still pretty tight, as per its immigration page. Special permissions must be afforded to foreign nationals, and the guidelines for entering the country are still fairly rigid. Until these travel bans are lifted, only people with dual passports or those who have family members who are Canadian nationals can freely enter the country.

You could get Public Health Agency exceptions to allow you to travel into the country if you so choose, but you're going to want to double- and triple-check your eligibility to enter the country, or else you might just be forced back to wherever you're traveling from or end up with flight travel vouchers you'll be forced to spend on another trip.