We were still in Plymouth with my daughter’s family and our grandkids looking for something fun to do.
A quick review on TripAdvisor revealed that one of the highest-rated “Things To Do” in Plymouth was something called The Plymouth Pirate Cruise.
Like most kids their age, our grandkids love everything about Pirates, so after a quick discussion, we booked it.
The Pirate Cruise is aboard the Lobster Tale one of the tour boats that leave from near the Town Wharf.
We managed to get to the head of the line, and as we boarded, I asked crew member Jack, “What’s the best seat.”
“It depends. Do you want to get wet?”
I said, “No!” And he directed us to the first row opposite the water cannons.
Hokey But Good
From the start, it was apparent that this mini adventure was designed for kids. Before we left the dock, the Captain appeared and revealed the Treasure Map.
The captain was great with kids, cracking all sorts of pirate jokes (“What’s a pirate’s favorite country? Arrrr gentina.”)
He also described the mission and warned us that “there may be pirates in the area,” Then the captain recruited kids to man the water cannons and instructed them on how to use them to sink the pirate ship.
You Will Get Wet
As we rounded the Mayflower, we encountered “The Pirate Ship.”
The “pirates” wore the ugliest rubber masks I’d ever seen. It was all fun and games until we got close enough to the pirates to fire the water cannons.
It became immediately evident that our water cannons were more like squirt guns. Meanwhile, the pirates had high-power water blasters, and they were clearly targeting everyone on the Whales Tale.
There were about 50 adults and kids on board. And except for the six kids on the water cannons, no one wanted to get wet.
Clearly, the pirates didn’t care, and as they soaked the entire cockpit with dirty salt water, everyone screamed and ran around the boat, desperate to keep dry.
Although many people laughed as they sought shelter, Mrs. Horne did not think getting her hair and outfit doused with salt water was any laughing matter.
As I will discuss in a minute, the entire event was a net positive, but the water battle with the pirates was a major fail. They either need to warn everyone that they will get wet or have the pirates confine their blasters to the kids firing the water cannons.
Plenty of Good Too!
Eventually, the pirates surrendered, and Crew Jack hauled their booty aboard. All the kids circled the treasure chest as Jack opened it to reveal multicolored bracelets for all the kids.
From there, we headed out of the inner harbor for a delightful short cruise to a waiting lobster pot.
Crew Jack hauled the pot, put the Lobster Tale on a mooring, and the Captain came down to explain how lobster pots work.
Our pot didn’t have any lobsters but did have a few crabs. The Captain gave a little lecture on the types of crabs we caught and then staged a crab race.
SPOILER ALERT: The sand crab won, and I think he always does!
Limbo Home
The kids were very excited about the crab race, but the crew really took it up a notch with a Limbo contest!
Although most of them cheated a little, they were all hooting and hollering with joy.
It is a really fun 90 minutes for kids as long as they don’t mind getting wet. If you don’t want to get wet, rush to the port fore deck as soon as you see the pirates!