The Nina and The Pinta

We braved some crazy fog this morning to visit replicas of The Nina (I don't know how to make that squiggly thingy over the n) and The Pinta, two of the ships Christopher Columbus used.

The Pinta--this is actually almost the same size as the Mayflower, which we have been reading about this week.

We had a guided tour, which was great! The kids got to try using a windlass, the tool used to raise the anchor. (I think that's right.)

The crew's quarters are below deck and Jack was really wanting to see what was down there!

This is a ballast stone, which they still use in the replicas. In the past, when explorers would get to the new world they would dump the ballast stones to make room for the things they were taking back. Later, these stones were used for streets and buildings.

Taking a whiff of the pine tar that was used to coat the boat--thankfully they don't use that anymore!

Next to the tiller, which was how they steered the ship.

Alice slept through most of the tour, but when we woke up she was fascinated by these rope-covered poles.

The Nina

Another view of The Pinta

The kids loved this hill, and thankfully we didn't have to fish any of them out of the water!