Monday, 2 March
“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue…”
Nina and Pinta pulled into the Yacht Basin to re-fuel.
One of the attractions of Fort Myers for the winter is, well, the number “attractions.” Along with the year-round activities like theater, art and the Edison-Ford Winter Estates, there are the festivals. There seems to be something going on downtown every weekend, Art Walk, car show, concerts and on and on. Even when there’s nothing planned, something fun seems to happen downtown.
The ships are considered historically correct, despite diesels.
For instance, the late afternoon arrival of the replica ships Nina and Pinta. They stopped to re-fuel on their way up the Caloosahatchee for a spring tour up the East Coast (See http://www.thenina.com for tour schedule). A crowd of marina residents quickly formed, an impromptu festival of sorts.
The Niña is a replica of the ship on which Columbus crossed the Atlantic on his three voyages to the New World beginning in 1492, a total of more than 25,000 miles. That ship was last heard of in 1501 but the new Niña is a floating museum visiting ports all over the Western Hemisphere.
According to the group’s website, the 65’ Nina was built completely by hand without the use of power tools. “Archaeology” magazine called the ship “the most historically correct Columbus replica ever built.” The 85’ Pinta, a larger version of the archetypal caravel, was built recently in Brazil to accompany the Nina on all of her travels. Historians consider the caravel the Space Shuttle of the fifteenth century.
Passing under the Edison Bridges and into the Caloosahatchee fog on their way east through the Okeechobee Canal.
The Niña and Pinta will be touring together as a new and enhanced ‘sailing museum’, for the purpose of educating the public and school children on the ‘caravel’, a Portuguese ship used by Columbus and many early explorers to discover the world.
They shoved off early Tuesday on their way across Lake Okeechobee to a five-night stay in Vero Beach, the same route Steadfast will take later this week. By the way, Nina and Pinta plan to be in Richmond the first week in May.
Watch for them at a city near you. If there’s not a festival, these ships are bound to create one.
Steadfast out.
At Sea with Steadfast 
I remember seeing the Nina and Pinta in Jamestown for our 400th anniversary. Look forward to seeing them in May. SO now that you all have seen almost the whole East Coast and Florida, where would you want to settle in?
Ahoy mates! Donald and I will be landing in Fort Myers tomorrow, March 5, to visit my aunt and uncle in Naples. How can we get in touch with you? Cell phone numbers the same? Would be great to see you, if schedules permit. xox Jo