July 23, 2017
Oswego, NY
Okay, so seeing a few replica's of Christopher Columbus's ships might be about as exciting as going to an Alpaca Farm for some people in my family. (The running joke at my house, when I ask family members to join me on one of my road trips and they think it is ridiculous, I am reminded of a trip I suggested to an Alpaca farm. Apparently my family thinks Alpaca's are not worthy of their time. So any time I mention a trip they feels is "silly", I am reminded of my desired family destination to an alpaca farm. This such trip was deemed Alpaca worthy...and not on their scale of fun or even remotely something they would want to do on a nice summer day.)
I myself found this pretty cool, as did thousands of others this weekend in Oswego, NY and I was lucky enough to find David and Renee up for the trip too.
From my home it's about a 30 minute drive to Oswego. We arrived just shortly after the event had started and we found a line of people awaiting to pay the $10- admission price to see the ships. While waiting in line Renee and I took a pose in this picture cutout.
The Oswego pier 3 is located right on Lake Onterio. This area offers a Maritime museum and for this event several ships.
First up is the Del Mor...
We breezed by that ship and headed directly to one of the two main attractions. The replica of Christopher Columbus's ships. First was the Nina.
I was surprised at just how small the ships actually were. (I was told they were to size.)
I may have gathered more information about the construction as well as any facts about the actual original ships, but with so many people it was hard to stay in one place for to long. We really just kind of wandered around looking quickly as we went.
I tried to avoid pictures with all of the people so many of my shots were looking up. We were not allowed to enter the galley below, but here are a few pictures of the pictures.
A few facts about the Nina. She (aren't all ships female?) is 65 feet long and weighs 80 tons. The Nina was the vessel that housed Christopher Columbus during the early age of discovery. She sailed to the Americas in 1492 safely returned Columbus home and was soon on her second voyage to Cuba. According to the reading she was the only ship to survive the hurricane of 1495 bringing back an admiral and 120 passengers back to Spain.
On Columbus's first voyage The Nina housed 24 passengers. The replica ships which travel 11 months out of the year to ports all across the world now house 7. Even 7 people on this boat seems tight I can't imagine 24.
The Nina was captured in Rome, and apparently the captain returned to steal her back. She returned home making her third voyage once again with Christopher Columbus.
As I noted earlier the ship was much smaller then I had anticipated. To think these men sailed her in such close quarters is a surprise. We were not able to see the inside of Christopher Columbus's state room, but we viewed it from above and it was TINY. Below was the best picture I could get looking through the grate from above. The room is nothing more then a bed and a few inch's of floor space.
Pine Tar was used to waterproof the ships which is why they are black in color.
Pretty cool hun?
Apparently Columbus did not prefer the Santa Maria. She was slugish and to big to make it in many of the waterways. She was the only ship that did not return to Europe and also not replicated.
Onward to the Pinta.
The Pinta is slightly larger then the Nina at 85 feet in length and weighing 101 tons. Her original voyage passengers housed 26 people and 9 today. Apparently they offer full time jobs and there were signs posting for the position. I did consider...just for a minute.
Unlike the Nina, the Pinta has no history to tell after her voyage with her sisters; (The Nina and Santa Maria.). She apparently disappeared.
I found The Pinta to be a prettier ship and although only slightly larger then the Nina, she seemed more spacious. Perhaps it was her big upper deck.
After we had our fill of the two replica ships we headed off to an original.
This LT-5 Tug was once in World War II.
She (are not so pretty navel ships also female?) even shot down a Nazi war plane. Boats like this are not intended to shoot down planes. Their air weaponry is more for protection then as a line of defense.
Here you can see the gun on the upper deck.
There was a speaker here who informed us while we waited on a few facts about the ship. It was difficult to get the hole story as he had no cue cards and mainly spoke as he thought about information the audience would like to know. There were so many people however (and it was HOT) it made it difficult to hear him and focus.
We finally were allowed to enter the ship.
I wont pretend to know anything about ships and this one is no exception. I also was not provided with any reading material after the tour to review the facts. With this said, I will not provide information about what I saw here as I may not be accurate in my description.
Instead I will just tell you it was pretty cool.
Renee steering the boat.
I believe this is the captains quarters.
The stairs are quite narrow.
Another room.
The engine.
and the dining/kitchen.
Once we made our way through the Boat, we took a quick run of the Maritime Museum. We did this quickly as there were so MANY people and SO MUCH information with lots of reading on little signs to gain information. It may have been interesting but it was simply to crowded to enjoy.
I snapped a few pictures,,,but was given a scowl by some of the people surrounding me so I took one last one of the light house light before we left.
OKay....NEAT!!! and we were off. As we were heading back to the car, we noticed the line to get onto the pier was LONG LONG LONG. I was so very glad we came when we did. It had been crowded when we had arrived, but this line was 3xs longer. I can't imagine trying to enjoy those ships with all those people.
Now lets hope it is not as crowded at the popular Rudy's restaurant.
Okay....so apparently EVERYONE in NY is in the Oswego area today. Rudy's restaurant is the summer spot for a fried meal...and it was packed. It took about 20 minutes to get our meal, but the seating was the best. (Right on the lake). The restaurant is a walk up order place and it seems they have the system down. There had to be about 15 people taking orders and getting food out. It actually went pretty smooth considering. The picture below does not show just how many people were waiting in line.
Meals came. I had a burger and fries. I also had some fried pickles. I was not impressed with the burger...but the fries were pretty good and I had fried pickles to snack on later that evening.
After the meal we enjoyed the rocky beach. Thousand upon thousands of smooth round rocks lined this shore.
I took a few home with me to paint. Has anyone heard of the #219rocks. Painted rocks are being hidden all around the world and shared. I think it is kind of cool. Think I might paint a few and hide them on my next adventure. (PS- it is illegal to take rocks or hide painted rocks in state or national parks.)
David did a few skipping of some of these flat stones. I tried and it fell a bit short. They are flat but to round I think for some really good stone skipping.
Now educated on ships, a good meal and some great company, we decided to head back home. Another trip taken and another great day. (Below, I love this picture I took...maybe I am getting better with my camera.)
TTFN.
