Pirate Adventure

Other than canoeing, my kids had never been on a boat ride, so when I read somewhere about this Pirate Adventure that sails out of Annapolis I thought that it would be the perfect thing for our family. It cost a few dollars more than a standard boat ride around the Annapolis Harbor, but it was worth every cent.

As soon as we checked in at the little building on the bay, the pirate who owns the place gave us all name tags with nautical names like Dreadful Drew, Starfish Sydney, Admiral Alison, Adventure Andy, and Mighty Matt. Then the kids headed to a large sandy area where they had a large trunk full of pirate dress-up stuff, and the staff painted tattoos on the kids. Drew went with the blue mustache and skull on the arm, and Sydney thought that a pirate ship on her arm would be nice.


On to the pirate ship we went, and the staff shuttled all of the parents towards the back of the boat, while the kids were fully into their new role as pirates on the hunt for buried treasure. We happened to get seats up front by the kids because we were almost the last ones on the boat and everyone else opted to take the shady spots in the back. It worked to my advantage though, as I had a better view for watching the adventure and taking photos. In the photo above, the kids are reading the treasure map with their leader.


Drew scans the horizon, looking for landmarks that will lead them to the buoy with the big X on it.



Oh No! It's the bad pirate... all of the kids got to shoot him with cannons that spray water until he fell into the bay. He was a funny guy who made very dramatic evil faces and brandished his sword well. There were enough cannons for each child, and I did not witness one meltdown of any sort for the whole hour long adventure... pretty amazing since there were a few 3 year olds aboard.



There were plenty of sailboats around, since Annapolis is "the sailing capital of America" ... or maybe the world. I can't remember what the sign says, but I can say with confidence that they do love sailing there.


The kids were so excited after they defeated Pirate Pete that Sydney and some others randomly broke into a dance party.


X marks the spot-- Drew helps to pull the treasure chest up from the bottom of the bay onto the deck. I appreciated that they actually let the kids do most of this stuff-- it made it much more realistic, especially for the older ones.


Each pirate got to grab a handful of treasure.... lots of plastic money and pinata toys!


Sydney sits with her loot in her lap.


Andy and Matt look at Annapolis Harbor.


This was a great time from start to finish. Every person on the staff was friendly, funny, and seemed to really love their job. The kids never lost interest the entire time, and Drew and Sydney played pirates for days afterward.