Yo Ho Ho, To Sea We Go!

One of the great adventures we planned was a pirate adventure, aboard the great Duckaneer! Unfortunately, this was one of the side trips that Joey staunchly refused to leave the hotel room for. In fact, he refused to go on any boat rides, saying they were scary. So we left Joey in the hotel with Dad and Grandma, and Andy and I went pirating!

We arrived to explore the docks, and Andy was very excited to see live crabs on the piers. We also discovered a place to get shirley temples, an office with stuffed sharks on the wall, and the gift cart. Oh, and a place to buy a hat for Mommy, as we realized there would be little shade on the Duckaneer.

We were soon off to find pirate treasure! The treasure in the end turned out to be, as Andy suspected, small toys. The folks were very generous with letting all the kids have a handful of treasure.

They were also very clear about the fact that everybody would be getting wet. They are serious. Don't go on pirate adventures if you are afraid of getting soaked to the bone. After all, there are ten water canons on the Duckaneer!

The boat is wonderful. Andy thought it was amazing. There is a big pirate map painted on the deck, and the folks are in costume and character. They sit the kids around the map and spin a wonderfully fun yarn about the adventure. Parents are encouraged to participate in everything, too.

Andy loved the map. He started looking for the "X" right away (there isn't one- the adventure is more adventurous than that!) He especially liked that the places marked on it were places we had talked about and been to, such as Assateague Island.

Andy was soon ready for high adventure! He actually sat and joined in the story, and really got into the whole thing. He had some trouble now and again with processing instructions, but overall, he was having a glorious time as a salty sea dog. Yo ho, Yo ho, a pirate's life for me!

Andy manned the canons when we first got on, but in the thick of the battle against the enemy pirate, he spent a lot of time just trying to avoid being soaked. He was actually pretty successful. The enemy pirate would also reach in and grab shoes off the kids' feet, and Andy was very proud that he didn't lose his shoes (they all reappeared in the treasure chest at the end of the adventure). He did get a few good squirts in, though.

Here's the map on the deck.

It really is a fun thing, and worth the money. The folks that run the thing make it lots of fun, you get lots of toys, and you also ride around the bay and see Assateague. The pirate battle lasted a good long time, and everybody got into it, adults and kids alike. After the battle is won, they have games and dances for the kids to do on the way back to port.

Also, what is a pirate without his mustache, beard, and tattoo? They had quick "facepainting" which involved drawing two lines for mustache, a line on the chin for a beard, and an anchor on the kids' arms for tattoos. Oh, and one pirate ran around doing the same to the adults. I managed to avoid being mustached and bearded. Andy, however, hopped right into line. He got excited because they ran out of blue pencil, so he got to have red instead.

That's my little pirate! Arrr, Matey!