Pirate Ship Cruise - Flordia Post #3

I think this will be my final Florida beach vacation update.  These pictures were all taken during our beloved Pirate Ship cruise.  Yes, you read that right - we took a pirate ship cruise out into the ocean.  It was fantastic!  I would give it 5 stars.  The ship was in great shape and looked just like a pirate ship.  The crew were in character and SO GREAT with the kids.  There were planned activities for the kids from the moment the boat took off until we got back to shore.  For the adults there was Jimmy Buffet music playing, sunny skies, a nice breeze and it was just lovely.  This will be a must do activity for our family every time we visit Florida!  Enjoy the pictures :)

Here are the kids playing with the pirate statue in front of where you check in to get on the boat.  They were so excited!  The adventure begins!  Arghhhhhh

I'm happy to give them a little publicity.  Truly, we had a fantastic time.  It was a 2 hour cruise.  We took the 9:00 am cruise and as you can see the weather was prefect!

This is what we saw after we checked in.  The sails were for show because the boat had a diesel engine, but the kids were in awe of the "real" pirate ship!

Here's Zachary patiently standing in line to get on the boat.

There wasn't any safety rail on the dock to get to the boat, so we felt that the safest place for Anna Grace was on her Dad's shoulders :)

The crew literally climbed to the top of the rope ladders.  They we dressed as pirates and had plenty of "argh mateys" to go along with it!

One of the first activitesof the day -  the pirates gave all the kids water guns.  They brought out at least 100 waters guns full and ready for action.  Kids and parents all grabbed water guns and everyone was shooting everyone.  There was a big barrell of water on deck for refilling your gun.  We all got wet and had so much fun!

Yes, all the parents who were brave enough to be on deck got wet!

The next activity was for the boys only.  Each boy was given a mop and they had to "swab" the deck.  All the little boys excitedly took a mop and mopped the whole deck.  Hillarious!

You've never seen so many little boys excited about this task!

Then all the kids has their faces painted by the pirates.  You can't tell, but Zachary asked for an anchor on his cheek.  We tried to talk Anna Grace into getting her face painted, but she was a little shy of getting that close to the pirates so she just watched.

You aren't a real pirate without a sword fight and this trip did not dissapoint!  All of the children were given plastic swords and told to have a sword fight on the deck.  All of the kids were also given pirate hats to wear to really make things authentic!

Zachary also had to have an eye patch.  He looks like the real deal doesn't he?

During all of the sword fighting action Anna Grace sat next to Mee-Mee and rested and watched.

 One of the pirates came over to talk to her.  She wasn't too sure about that.  She liked watching them from afar a lot better than close up!

After the sword fight the kids were all told by the Captain to go below beck.  One of the lady pirates had all the kids sit down and she told them a story about a pirate (Black Beard I think) who buried a treasure at sea and that she found the map which lead to the treasure.  For a good 15-20 minutes she told this story and all of the kids sat quiet and attentive.  Then she showed them the treasure map and let them all pass it around and look at it.  She said the treasure was attached to an orange bouy and if they saw it floating in the water they were to tell the Captain.  Of course while all this was going on below deck, the other memebers of the crew were throwing a treasure chest overboard with an orange bouy attached to it.  When the kids came onto the deck, they spotted an orange bouy floating the in the water and told the Captain.  They couldn't believe they found the treasure!

So, one of the crew members hooked the orange bouy and attached it to a rope.  All the kids were instructed to grab the rope and "heave-ho" and pull the treasure chest up.  They all were so excited they could hardly stand it!

So the treasure chest was brought on board.  The kids were asked to sit in a circle after the chest was opened and each child could come to the chest one at a time and get 3 pieces of treasure (toys) out of it.  For as excited as the kids were it was SO WELL organized and each one of them waited for their turn.  I guess when I pirate tells you to sit, you listen!

Pretty authentic looking treasure chest don't you think?

Here is Zachary taking his turn and getting his "share" of the loot :)

 Anna Grace watched fascinated from afar.

This is the ONLY picture taken during our whole vacation with all of us in it together!  It is just so hard to stop and ask sonmeone to take your picture!  I sincerely treasure the memories that we made that morning on the Pirate Ship Cruise!