Visible crew/equipment: After Will puts the explosive inside skeletal Jacoby he exclaims, "No fair!" before he and the two other pirates blow up. In the very next shot of Barbossa, as he duels with Jack, the edge of the large wood plank that Geoffrey Rush and Johnny Depp stand on near the pile of treasure is plainly visible at the bottom of the screen. It can also be seen on DVD 2. (This is ONLY visible on the video version.)
Visible crew/equipment: After Elizabeth hides the dinner knife in the napkin, two shots later, as Barbossa hands the medallion to the monkey, there are two rods visible below the swing - one at each end - to keep the swing steady. (Visible on VHS.)
Visible crew/equipment: When Elizabeth is first taken aboard the Pearl you can see the yellow coloured contact lenses that Captain Barbosa is wearing.
Chosen answer: Because they'd have to find it. The gold may "call to them", but it obviously doesn't function as a millimetre perfect homing beacon or they'd never have missed the medallion years earlier when they attacked the ship carrying the young Will. Elizabeth drops it into the sea and they're going to have to spend what could be months trying to locate it - currents could take it well away from the dropping point. They've found the final missing piece; they're potentially just hours away from finally being cured. The last thing they want is to see it thrown into the sea.
Tailkinker ★
Well, if the crew was anxious to get the medallion then why did they act like they weren't interested in it before Elizabeth pretended to drop it?
Reverse psychology.
Ssiscool ★
What do you mean by reverse psychology?
By showing they are not interested in the medallion they are hoping Elizabeth will just drop it on the floor or chuck it to them as it's of no real value. However when she releases a bit of chain and the medallion drops, and the pirates lurch forward revealing that they really want the medallion and as such Elizabeth now has the upper hand in negotiations.
Ssiscool ★
I'm guessing Elizabeth wasn't fooled when the pirates showed disinterest in the medallion.
That's not called reverse psychology, which is used to encourage someone to change his or her mind. Doesn't work with a threat. They are feigning indifference to hide the importance of the object.
lionhead
They didn't want to give her an advantage over them. Pretending to not care about the coin would make Elizabeth think that the coin is worthless and cannot use it to barter a deal.