On Saturday, our family got to visit a life-sized replica of the Pinta, one of Christopher Columbus’s ships.

Actually, the Pinta was a little larger than life-size to accommodate the height of modern people. We were told the average European then was 5’2″.

Still, our first impression was that the ship was much smaller than we would have thought. And there was no belowdecks. There was a cargo hold, but everyone would have lived and slept on deck. It was hard to fathom a crew of 26 men in that space for as long as they were at sea.

Several placards were placed around the ship with explanations of life on board, Columbus’s route, instruments he used, etc.

There were also several instruments and items like a sword (under glass), a model of the ship, etc.

A couple of volunteers were on board to provide information and answer questions.

We were amused by a couple of anachronistic inclusions. 🙂

I appreciated that nothing was mentioned about anything controversial with Columbus. Those conversations are important, but one can enjoy learning about the ship without agreeing with everything that was done. The ship was presented as a “sailing museum” and was for the purpose of sharing information about history. This type of ship, a caravel, had been in use for a couple of centuries and was a common “workhorse” type of ship, one brochure explained.

It was the first time I had ever been on a “tall ship.” All in all, it was a fun and educational outing.

You can learn more about the Nina and Pinta replicas here and follow their itinerary here.