Yo Ho... heyyyyy!

Avast ye Hardies!!

Nestled in the Dana Point Harbor against the cliffs is the Ocean Institute, where you can board a "tall ship" for a cruise around the bay.

Equipped with the essential pirate bandana tied on my head and my questionable ability to speak pirate, I faced the swarthy crew and prepared to board The Spirit for the leisurely tour. ::sings "a 3 hour tour... 3 hour tour"::

Arrrr! Thar she blows!!! (or whatever)

(ignore red wagon, rofl)

Leisurely? Not so much. Right off we were put to work raising the sails. I tried to warn them that depending on me for proper sail-manuvering might spell disaster for everyone on board, but was bullied anyhow into falling in line just the same. Fine, don't blame me when everyone gets dumped into the sea!

We lined both sides of the ship and were given rapidfire instructions by a scalywag wench! Chit-chatting with the people on either side of me, I only heard the parts "heave", "ho", and "ready aye!" or something. It occurred to me that socializing during this intensive pirate training might cause some misfortune for my fellow passengers. But before I could worry too much about it, the rope was being passed, hand over hand, so quickly I couldn't keep up. The rope was slack! We needed to gather the excess and do it fast! I think I broke a nail!

Then things finally calmed down. Lucky for me, I met the most important person on the ship... a girl who came dressed piratelike and had smuggled on board a pint of Captain Morgan's rum! Got a little Capt'n in ya?! The rest of the trip, we craftily snuck drinks from her hidden hooch and made friends with the crew. Professional Pirates! With business cards! And cell phones!! No Lie! We were even invited to a "pirate convention" in Joshua Tree where there would be all kinds of cannons and guns... wooot! It did strike me as odd though that a pirate convention would be held so far from the sea, but who am I to judge?

Without any further pirating skills required of me other than the drinking of rum and saying "Arrrr Mateys!" wayyy too many times, we returned to the dock safely. All in all, a fun adventure although I was disappointed that there wasn't an eye patch or peg leg in sight and no one was made to walk the plank or swab the deck. Armed with my new piratification, though, I think I'm ready to break into the wenching or scalywagging industry!

center>Rosie Shark, your pirate name is
Sadi Silver Toe

What is YOUR pirate name?