The Nina, The Pinta and no Santa Maria

It's getting to be summer so that means it's time for the family outings.  Living near the coast we have so many wonderful things so close to us!  This past Saturday my family went to see replicas of the Nina and the Pinta!  I have to say I now have a whole new appreciation for what it took for people to come to America.  After standing on the deck of one of those ships and seeing how small it really was all I could think was how crazy they all were!

This is really how big the ship is, was, could you imagine setting sail in one of those with so many other people?

 The guy in the blue shirt is my dad and he's 6'8" That gives you a reference for the size of the ship. Granted these ships were not the Mayflower, but just think of the bravery of it, getting on a ship to go somewhere with NO GPS, no REAL map because that area wasn't even known. In those ships they had to take every thing they were going to need because they couldn't stop at the mini mart.  This was no Carnival cruise.  Each of these ships carried a crew of between 18 to 24. 


One thing you may not know about Columbus is that he was a religious man and thought God wanted him to reach the Indies to bring the Gospels to the people there.  One of my thoughts is that you would really have to have a strong faith to get on one of these ships.  Columbus made the journey 4 times. He brought back Corn, pumpkins, cassava, pineapples, tomatoes and my fave. avocados.

Columbus was stranded in Jamaica for a whole year.  He also sailed with Ponce de Leon who later discovered Florida and Antonio de Alaminos who later discovered the Gulf Stream.  He sailed with family.  Yes he did have a wife and two sons.  Columbus had brothers that sailed with him so you could call this a family affair.  At his death he did not know that he had discovered two new continents.

Look at the size of that anchor!

This was a really great thing for us to go see and now when the kids start on history for this coming up school year they will have this visual, real reference to draw off of. It's one thing to read books about the ships it's another to stand on one and feel how small it really was. I am truly grateful for the courage of those who came before us, those who were not scared to go on a trip without GPS, and a mini mart. It is because of these trail blazers we are where we are today!

My hubby and the wee little bit! She slept thru the whole tour of the ships.