Nina and Pinta Replicas, Vero Beach, Florida

Wednesday, April 5, 2017



One of the few things I remember from grade school was in "1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue". Well, today we are heading to Vero Beach with our neighbors Jerry and Penny to see two of the replicas of ships that Christopher Columbus used in his first historic voyage.  I am sure you all remember Columbus left Europe with three ships, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.  So, you are probably wondering why there were only two replicas built.  The Santa Maria was the largest of the three ships and was very slow and more difficult to maneuver, and could not make it through the water ways of the replica tours.  The original ship sank before making her way back to Europe and there are no plans to build a replica of her at this time.

Columbus was born in 1451 in Genoa and died on May 20, 1506.  His historic first journey left Europe sailing West into uncharted waters.  The three ships took 33 days to cross the Atlantic and arrive in the Bahamas.  It would take nearly 7 months before the Nina and Pinta returned without the Santa Maria.  There is no record of the Pinta after she returned home from the first voyage.  However, the Nina logged more than 25,000 miles under the command of Columbus.

This is the favorite ship of Columbus, the Nina.

 I was standing under to upper deck in the rear of the ship by the rudder when I took this picture.  The deck is really small considering this ship had a crew of 24.  She is 65 feet long and 18 feet at the beam.  The hold below deck stored all of the provisions, so the crew had to sleep on the deck.  It's a wonder they didn't all die of exposure!

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This is the rudder I was standing by when I took the above mentioned picture.  It looks like tons of water would have washed through this hole in rough seas!  Imagine trying to sleep on a cold wet deck every night!

 You can see part of the rigging.  These ships required some special skills to sail across the ocean.

 This is the Pinta.  I am sure you noticed both ships are black.   Back in the day, they were covered with pine tar to make them more water resistant.  The Pinta is 85 feet long and 24 feet at the beam.  She sailed with a crew of 26.  Both ships draw 7 feet of water.  Because of the dry winter this year in South Florida, they sailed around the Keys from Fort Myers to get to Florida's East coast instead of taking the short cut through the Okeechobee Water Way.  The Water Way depth is currently only only 8 feet.  

 This is the deck of the Pinta.  Ahead you can see the sails of the Nina.

 They carried their water mixed with wine to keep the water from going stale.  That's their story and they are sticking to it!! All of the provisions including the live stock were stored below.

 This is where all provisions were stored.  Currently this area is used to house the crew of the replica tour.  So, it's a bed room now!

 This was taken from the upper deck of the Pinta.

Below the upper deck is the rudder and compass and navigation area.

The Replica tour will depart Vero Beach on April 10th and will pass through Georgia and the Carolina's and continue up the East coast and into the Great Lakes.  Then will be taking the Arkansas River through Oklahoma.  Perhaps you can catch the tour somewhere along their touring route this year.  It's always fascinating to see an important piece of history come alive.