A tour aboard a pirate ship can be enjoyable for adults as well as kids.
Despite having a large population and being only a little over an hour from Los Angeles, San Diego maintains a sleepy, beach community personality. Its location on the southern California coast not only attracts tourists year-round who want explore the city's beaches, Mexican restaurants and attractions like Sea World, but it also attracts kids and adults interested in having a pirate ship experience. A few vessels are maintained in San Diego that are used to introduce kids and adults alike to the golden age of piracy.
Pirate Camp
The San Diego Summer Pirate Camp for Kids is an annual event that sells out fast, as it gives children aged 6 to 10 an opportunity to live like pirates for a week. The camp runs in two summer sessions that are titled "The Adventure of Bluebeard's Lost Treasure" and feature activities aboard a recreated pirate ship. The ship docks at San Diego's Marina Village, where the camp operates an indoor facility decorated like an island pirate hideout complete with tropical trees and huts. Children participate in activities like singing pirate songs, learning read treasure maps and playing pirate games like Dread Pirate and Pirate Cove.
Children also get to make craft items like model pirate ships and miniature pirates, bake pirate cookies, and play on a pirate ship. Two excursions are held on real pirate ships from a chartered tall ship. As part of the first excursion, the campers get to explore the ships and pirate exhibit at San Diego's Maritime Museum. For the second excursion, children get to sail to Pirate Cove at Presidio Park, where they use an old pirate map to locate hidden treasure.
Maritime Museum of San Diego
The Maritime Museum of San Diego is a unique museum that is housed within five ships floating in the San Diego harbor. Its five historic vessels include the Star of India, the Berkeley and the Medea. Kids and parents alike agree the Star of India looks and feels just like a pirate ship, especially with an exhibit inside the ship that depicts the life of pirates in artifacts and movies. Docents provide lectures, and sleepovers are offered on the "pirate" ship at different points during the year. Guests may choose to tour the ships while they are docked or take a day-long adventure cruise aboard one of them.
Pirate Adventure Cruise
San Diego residents and visitors can take a short drive north to Dana Point (about one hour's drive), where families can take a day cruise on a real pirate ship called "The Spirit of Dana Point." Crew members sing songs and entertain passengers with sail rigging, dancing, character acting and ladder climbing aboard a 118-foot schooner that is a replica of a real pirate ship. The cruise travels 3 to 5 miles every weekend and lasts two and a half hours, during which passengers are given an opportunity to be part of the ship's crew by pulling rope and raising sails.
Pirate's Dinner Adventure Theater
Located in Buena Park a city near Long Beach about two hours' drive north of San Diego county, Pirate's Dinner Adventure Theater is a dinner and entertainment experience that transports guests back into the days of privateering through piracy. Guests board a pirate ship and take a seat, to be entertained with a show while they eat. Appetizers and drinks (at an additional cost) are available. Dinner includes chicken or beef brisket, rice or mashed potatoes, soup or salad and bread.
Tags: pirate ship, Maritime Museum, real pirate, Adventure Theater, Dana Point, Diego Maritime