Neat visitor in town

[jb]

Full size replica of a Spanish Galleon, sailed over from Spain, touring the Great Lakes and other ports in the US.
I had know idea how big those old boats were, one thing for sure, there is a lot of wood floating there.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/jbmich/Spanish%20Galleon_zpskyimibdo.jpg

[DeputyDog]

How long is it gonna be there? My wife and I will be up there starting tomorrow through Wednesday. She has a conference at the Grand Traverse and I'm just tagging along.

[Big Skyz]

That is neat!

[Thumper]

We've had a HUGE "Gasparilla" event down here every year since 1904 (except during WWII) and everybody in Tampa becomes a pirate! The party rivals Mardi Gras in New Orleans and is actually the 3rd largest parade in the country! The parade is in the streets, but everyone brings their boat also (EVERYBODY down here has a boat!).

When the pirates invade the bay, they come in with cannons blazing!


http://media2.abcactionnews.com/photo/2015/01/28/gasparilla_ship_1422472124118_12854612_ver1.0_640_ 480.jpg


As I said, when the pirates invade, a "few" people bring their own boats to the party!


http://www.piratesofgasparilla.com/Gasparilla-2004-01.jpg

[BarryBobPosthole]

When I was in the AF stationed in Tampa and friend of mine and I worked an every weekend handyman gig for extra money. We both landed jobs doing various stuff for the Gasparilla Days celebration. We built stages, decorated yachts, decorated that big pirate ship, blew up thousands of helium baloons, and got selected as drivers in the parade. The guy I drove was the state insurance commissioner. the cars were brand new Caddy convertibles and were delivered to us but we had to return them to the dealership after the parade. Every driver in the parade met early in the morning at a hotel where there was open bar so the entire parade was drunker than Cooter Brown when it started.
Then my buddy and I took those Caddy's for a spin up Bayshore Drive way faster than the speed limit. We made a lot of money, had an awesome time, but man were we stupid.

BKB

[Thumper]

Yeah, ain't youth great? I never did anything stupid though. Well, maybe a time or two, but I was too drunk to remember it. ;)

[LJ3]

Full size replica of a Spanish Galleon, sailed over from Spain, touring the Great Lakes and other ports in the US.
I had know idea how big those old boats were, one thing for sure, there is a lot of wood floating there.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v460/jbmich/Spanish%20Galleon_zpskyimibdo.jpg

Those things are cool! That one is tiny compared to some of the other spanish war ships of that time.

7418

They were always ready and willing to take out dastardly pirate ships!

7419

[Captain]

That's cool JB, there was a ship that looked just like that one anchored in St Augustine for about an year. Cheryl and I noticed it was go one this year. Wonder if it could be the same ship?