We spent our second day of Spring Break touring two Columbus replica ships that just so happened to be docked in Savannah during our stay! (Oh, the statements I never dreamt of making…and ending with an explanation mark.)
The Niña is a replica of the ship on which Columbus sailed across the Atlantic on his three voyages of discovery to the new world beginning in 1492. Columbus sailed the 65’ ship over 25,000 miles. And while the original was last heard of in 1501, this replica is the most historically accurate Columbus replica ship ever built! The littles were enamored with the little snippets of what life was like on the boat five hundred and twenty-two years ago. Mother and I were just bewildered at the thought of crossing oceans in this tiny vessel and spending months on end sleeping on the small decks with twenty some odd passengers.
The Pinta is the second replica Columbus ship, however at 85’ she is larger than the original vessel. To my novice eye, the two boats were extremely similar. I found it interesting that the crews for both ships are volunteers and actually LIVE on the ships during their entire term. John struck up a conversation with two of the guys and we learned that they mostly eat rice and beans on the boat, that they live under the decks and they travel only with a duffel bag and backpack. The two we talked to had both been on the crew for almost a year!
The Niña and Pinta are touring together as a ‘sailing museum’ for the purpose of educating the public and school children on the ‘caravel’, a Portuguese ship used by Columbus and many early explorers to discover the world. You can find information on the Columbus Foundation here and a port schedule here. I thought the price of admission was a little steep ($8 adults, $7 seniors, $6 kids), but considering it was educational and pretty much a once in a lifetime gig, I’d suppose it was worth it.
After our tour, we hit up the Olympia Cafe for ice cream. It was windy and chilly but that didn’t deter my two. This child makes every thing he eats look like the most delicious thing to have ever crossed his lips. I practically wanted a cotton candy ice cream cone after looking at this for ten minutes…
We spent the rest of our afternoon meandering around River Street and Bay Street with the throngs of tourists. I relish the opportunity to be a tourist in my own city. And sights like these never do get old.
Fingers crossed the wind dies down tomorrow. I know two little people that reeeeeaaaallllly want to hit the beach.
xoxo
How fun! My boys would've thought that was pretty cool! xo
Ahhh… Thanks for the info. This is right up our alley and we'll be down at the beach for part of our Spring Break very soon! Hope that y'all had a wonderful trip!
About every other summer we take the kiddos to Plymouth, MA to see the Mayflower. I, too, have a hard time believing that people really made that long voyage on the sea in such tight quarters!