You have “permission to come aboard” two replicas of history’s most significant sailing vessels, when they dock in Clinton, IA, from Thursday, August 4, through Monday, August 8, 2016. Two Portuguese caravels, La Nina and La Pinta, are accessible via self-guided tour of these floating museums.
Tour from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Schedule an appointment for “a fuller 15th century experience” of 30 minutes with a guided tour. Admission is
- $8 adults
- $7 Seniors over age 60
- $6 youth 5 through 16
- free for children 4 and under
- $5 any age groups of 15 or more with pre-scheduled tour times.
Visit www.thenina.com or call 787-672-2152 for tour reservations.
The 15-man crew will answer questions. Interactive displays describe life aboard ship 500 years ago.
Captain Stephen Sanger stated, “It’s very unique. We’re the only traveling Columbian ships in the world. We spend a lot of time on the ocean and in the Great Lakes.” The caravels visit many ports in the Western Hemisphere.
La Nina, La Pinta, and La Santa Maria carried Christopher Columbus and crew across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, to the New World.
They left Palos de la Frontera, Spain, on August 3 and “discovered” an island in the Caribbean Sea, 33 days later. Columbus thought he had reached his goal of a westerly route to the West Indies, so he named the residents Indians.
Because the Santa Maria “was considerably larger and would need 14 feet of water depth, [this keeps] it from traveling to many places the smaller ships can reach,” explained Captain Sanger. “Columbus never really liked the Santa Maria anyway. His favorite ship was the Nina.”
Indeed. Christopher Columbus made three trips across the Atlantic Ocean, totaling more than 25,000 miles, in La Nina.