hurricane

Such a good question, Cheeky. I so love a good ball... -- not used to payin' for them though. -- Hurricane

The real number last year was closer to 350. The then manager of the event spouted the 700 number off to the media (I think he was seeing double about that time in the fest) but we certainly never saw that many at the hotel. There would have never been room for that many at any of the venues, including the classroom and the selling areas. But 350 was a lot of pirates (especially for a first year) and I'm sure this year you'll have many, many more... it's only getting better and better. And if you haven't had the pleasure of hearing the Rusty Cutlass gang, you're in for a treat. They are mostly landlocked at the PotC ride these days... good that DisneyWorld gave them some time off. I'm anxious to hear from ya'll how it goes this year. -- Hurricane --

If you want it to be reproduced these guys will do it for a reasonable price. I have Morgan's Letter of Marque and it looks great, complete with waxed seal. They do custom work - basically, they love to forge documents. http://piratedocuments.com/Pages/menu.htm -- Hurricane

Thanks! I'd like to take all the credit but we had one of our crewe mates do it who works at a local TV Station. He has a good eye for these things, he does. -- Hurricane

Exactly! -- Hurricane

That's a great idea. I used to make real primitive ones in the old days. The real ones would look so much more austere. Can others supply ones from the time period so we can replicate the look? I'm sharpening my chisels. :) -- Hurricane

Here's our short one... http://piratesofthecoast.com/video/trailer2.mov -- Hurricane

Exactly. :) The longer term plan is to build the deck of the back of the house that matches the cannon barge from the live action Peter Pan. I bought the plans from the production company for it. At the far end of the yard will be facades that match what Port Royal looked like in the time period so we have a place to play pirate year round. So far, the neighbors haven't minded all the gun and cannon fire. -- Hurricane

Diosa suggested you just time it so you arrive in the morning, sleep and eat to refresh and then we can all head down in a caravan of piratical bliss in the late eve after Miami's rush hour has long passed and everyone's gone home to sleep.... It's a good break before the final run to recharge and you're always welcome! We chose the floor plan for the housienda with all this in mind, a way station of piracy if you will. :) -- Hurricane

You can usually find the tombstone at http://www.mousesurplus.com -- just click on the auctions link and it is often on their ebay site. -- Hurricane

This might work, although when I did leave last time, I hit absolutely no traffic until I hit the Keys... Well, we timed this right you could drift into Melbourne down 95 and stay at the housienda for a spell before we move down the coast to the Keys. We offer quarter and quarters to pirate hunters and pirate hunters alike... :) From here it's a seven hour jaunt to KW. We have sleeping space for five in beds and lots of space on the floor and on the grounds. -- Hurricane

That's purty! I like this one too...

That's exactly why we time our trip to hit the keys about 2 a.m. -- last year we were the only car on the damned road all the way down. It was sweet. And I love driving into KW as the sun rises -- from darkness to the turquoise waters is always a treat, even living here in FL. -- Hurricane

The coat is of the wrong material too. But I must agree with Iron Bess on this one. I ended up buying the Jack tombstone and put it on a hill in my yard. Dead and buried I says... a true Jack in the Box. -- Hurricane

If you post your arrival time and phone number, there's always someone around the fort that can run out to the airport too. Several of us did the run back and forth last year to pick up and drop off participants. The drive is a long one - we always do it at night since there's no traffic and the lights down the keys are almost all yellow. Knocks about 45 minutes off the run from Florida City. But you never want to speed through there. Bad stuff - that's how most of these little tourist and fishing towns make their money and just a couple miles over can get you a ticket there. -- Hurricane

That is indeed one of the great drives by convertible. Love the run from Homestead to KW with the top down. If it weren't for the end of the road there, I would have easily ended up in Cuba with the car. -- Hurricane

That's well over 200 pounds of pewter. That's danged expensive no matter how you look at it, especially when you add packing on to the shipping weight. Wow! -- Hurricane

Good thoughts there Patrick. No matter what one does in Key West, things mildew, mold and rot. Just ask the locals... it's just part of life in the tropics and I doubt pirates who never bathed and wore their clothes until they dropped off them would really worry about these things when they have more pressing matters at hand. -- Hurricane

I certainly agree with that King's Pyrate. But most real pirate history is on not on the West Coast. There's no historical connection there like there is elsewhere along the Gulf and East Coasts and the Caribbean. So attendance rises and falls by the popularity of the subject within a pop culture context than actual interest in history. It's a lot like doing a Wrecking Exhibit in Seattle. There were no wreckers in Seattle. They were in Key West. Instead, Seattle has an exhibit on Northwest Rock n' rollers which would have scant interest in Chicago, even as a traveling exhibit. It just depends on where you are and what is historically of value. GOF... yeah ferries and tugs are big on the West Coast. When I lived in Seattle I poured over the history of the ferry fleets there - it's part of the culture there. So again, it's what's of interest in a maritime history context. -- Hurricane

There's a big difference between Disneyland and a maritime museum. Public interest in pirates is on the wane again. It's always been cyclical. Everyone looks upon that as a bad thing. I've been playing pirate for 25 years and have seen the comings and goings of pirate pop culture during that time. Do I care? No. Does it affect my piratical play and performance? No. Does it make me see fewer Jack Sparrow impersonators at pirate events? Yes and thank god! I'm looking forward to a return to normalcy, frankly. By the way: Mel Fisher's Museum in KW got rid of their pirate exhibit two years ago. Guess they didn't know what they were doing either. No one even noticed. -- Hurricane

I didn't really take it as a period reference book - obviously, it's a work covering a later period, like the GAoP books don't work for us Buccaneer period lovers. But I still have GAoP in my collection as companion pieces to the Buccaneer books and resources I have. By comparing all the works, you get a good sense of what was and what wasn't at a particular period of time and can use comparisons to assess the progress made with particular items. For instance, there's a tendency of GAoP's to mention making port in Port Royal. They were hunted there during this period. Even in the later Buccaneer era piracy, privateering and even buccaneering was a ticket to the gallows there. But little is mentioned in the contemporary books on GAoP regarding this... nor the fact that the once great city - "The Wickedest City in the World" was not so great in the GAoP, since it was 1/3 the size in landmass following the quake of 1692. You have to go back further to find the clues that lead to the truth. In the 1688 piece I referenced, the one surgeon's saw looks much like later periods. So I can then look at those, knowing there were similar ones in the buccaneer period as well. Some things change greatly, some things change slowly and some thing don't change at all. That's where I think others would find this of value, within that broader perspective. - Hurricane

Those are really nice. Thanks for pointing them out (he says, drooling). -- Hurricane

So, I'm watching AstroSpies tonight on PBS. And lo and behold is my wife's uncle, Uncle Al, who I see at all the family gatherings. All I knew is he was one of the original Space Cowboys (like in the movie). Wrong! He was a super cool space spy in training. The secret lives of other family members... Check this out! http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/astrospies/profiles.html He's Al Crews... -- Hurricane

Thanks for the recommend. I just ordered it off amazon.com to add to my collection. I just got a great CD of images to work and descriptions some might like. It's "Living and Working in Seventeenth Century England" with much of it devoted to the latter part of the century, on the cusp of GAoP but right spot on for buccaneers. The illustrations of surgeon tools and shoes was worth it alone. Comes with the text from the original book which was originally published in 1688. Overall, there are 2,500 illustrations spanning the century. The early ones weren't much used to me but the latter ones were a gold mine of original, period drawings of such basics as fireworks, machinery, instruments, jeweller's tools and household furnishings and kitchen utensils. -- Hurricane

I just got the proposed schedule for some of the events for the festival this year to review. Some new stuff to look forward to. -- Hurricane