Discovering Columbus' ships: The Nina and the Pinta

We went to Gulf Shores today to explore the Nina and Pinta.  They were docked at Lulu's Marina.

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 tiny ship over 25,000 miles. That ship was last heard of in 1501, but the new Niña has a different mission.  It is a floating museum, and visits ports all over the Western Hemisphere.

The Pinta was recently built in Brazil to accompany the Nina on all of her travels. She is a larger version of the archetypal caravel and offers larger deck space for walk-aboard tours and has a 40 ft air conditioned main cabin down below with seating.

We were very excited to explore what Grace called a "pie-rut sip" (pirate ship).

On the walkway to the ships and on the ships themselves, we found interesting tidbits of information.

Some were historical facts.

And were actually kind of fascinating - for me at least.

On the Nina, we were allowed to traverse the upper deck area which was really neat.

There was a shaded area under the upper deck.  David had to hunch over because the ceiling was so low.  He could only stand upright between the beams.

Grace found a "pie-rut piddy bank" (pirate piggy bank) in that area.

This boat looked like a large canoe or rowboat.  I can't believe it was built by a 14 year old!  Amazing!

This led below decks.  It was where Columbus would have slept and today's captain sleeps.

We weren't allowed down there, but that was okay by me.  Sounds really short on space.

This also went below decks to the "hold."  I can't belive that the crew lived and slept on the deck.  Can you image sleeping up there during a storm?  During the tour there was about 15 other people on board and space was at a premium.  I was constantly bumping into other people or the walls.  Makes me really appreciate our large homes on dry ground.

All in all, I thought it was a very interesting and fun tour.

After our tour, we decided to spend the rest of the day at Lulu's.

The kids played in the sand.

And under the picnic tables.

And in the sand some more.

The teenage boys tossed a football around.

And flirted with girls while trying to play volleyball.

The girls just hung out.

And made sand cakes.

And ate them!

Then they said they needed to "eat beck-fuss" (eat breakfast).  That was our cue to order burgers.

After eating an early dinner, all the guys tossed the football around some more before we all headed home. 
 

It sure was a fun day exploring ships and playing in the sun!