{Summer Vacation // Panama City Beach // Day 3}


Day three started out just like day 2 with a morning trip to the beach. We spent hours upon hours swimming and searching for sea shells. Then we left with plenty of time to get ready for our 3:00pm Sea Dragon Pirate Cruise. The pirate cruise ended up being one of the highlights of our trip! We had so much fun. If you're ever in the Panama City Beach area and looking for something to do with the kids, I highly recommend this. The tickets are $25 for adults and $21 for kids, but it is so worth it. Once you're on the ship everything else is so ridiculously cheap! Mason made out like a bandit with all kinds of pirate gear. Also, their pitch is that they entertain the kids for a couple hours while parents can sit back and relax. And that was so true! They kept them busy the entire time. We relaxed, watched and took pictures and videos.






Once the ship starts to sail they gather all of the kids to the middle of the ship and put on a little show/skit to tell the rules and to introduce the awesome cast. Then they started passing out water-guns to the kids. They thought it was fun and hilarious to shoot the parents until the cast handed out water-guns to the parents as well! I had to hide my camera because some of those kids were relentless with those water-guns!




After the water-gun fight they dismissed the girls to the galley for face painting while the boys stayed back to swab the deck! You should have seen their faces when they started handing out mops! It really was so cute and so clever too.



Don't let his face fool you! He was having a blast, just hot and tired from running around like a maniac squirting people! Once the girls finished their face painting it was time to switch and let the boys get theirs done. They also gave them at pirate hat at this point. Mason came back with a beard and a mustache and was pretty proud.





Next it was time for some good ol' sword fighting. They let the kids choose if they wanted to use the ship's swords or the ones they purchased. Mason chose to use the ships sword so that he didn't break his!





Next was Cannon time! One of the pirates shot the cannon a couple of times at some nearby boats. The kids got a kick out of that! Then they let the kids shoot a nerf-ball cannon. The boys shot while the girls gathered the balls and then they switched. Mason took it very seriously as you can see in the photos below. As each kid took a turn on the cannon the cast gave them each a pirate bracelet.



Next they took all of the kids down to the galley to study the treasure map! There was a treasure box hidden out in the ocean and they had to help the captain find it. Once they bring the treasure box in they let each kid pick out a handful of treasures.






After each kid got their treasure they had them line up for tattoos. There were 3 or 4 designs they could choose from. Let me tell you, those were some good tattoos. The very last of Mason's just came off almost 4 weeks later. And that's even with him swimming in the ocean, in lakes and in rivers and countless baths. I've never seen a temp tattoo last that long!










On the way back to shore everyone just hung out and enjoyed the ride or joined in the dance party going on! It was such a fun trip and something we'd do again in a heartbeat. I know Mason made memories on that ship that he will remember for a long time. And I will always remember how cute my little pirate was!






We asked one of the Pirates for a good place to eat and he told us about a place called J Michaels. It ended up being my favorite meal of the entire trip! He said it was the local's best kept secret, but tourists are slowly learning and raving about it. I can see why! It was delicious. Nathan even tried an oyster there and has been craving them since! They were covered in butter, cheese and jalepenos and he said they didn't have the typical oyster texture! I took his word for it instead of trying them. ha.

That evening we visited St Andrews State Park and fell in love with it! It was such a beautiful part of the beach. And everywhere that you looked there were photoshoots going on!




Have you ever been to Panama or done anything like the Pirate Cruise?

15 comments

  1. Looks like fun! We did a Pirate cruise last summer in Destin and loved it! I'm so glad my son's tattoo didn't last four weeks, though, because he put it on his forehead!

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  2. We have been to PCB every year since we had kids and I have never even heard of that Pirate Cruise!! I don't know how we've missed it. Thanks for letting me know... we will definitely be going next year!

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  3. This looks so fun!! Mason must have been in heaven! That jaunty little mustache just kills me lol.

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  4. Look at that Pirate cruise! That looks like such a blast. I'm sure Mason was in his element. And that last picture of you & your love, I just can't even. Crop that girl out & stick it in a frame!

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  5. OMG, love this so much!! Mac would have a blast! Mason looks like he's totally part of the crew! They have one of these in Baltimore than I'm going to have to take them on next time we're up there.

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  6. This is a little boy's dream come true. What a fun thing to experience.

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  7. This is just precious. So many fun activities and it looks so relaxing for the parents.

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  8. That pirate cruise sounds like SO much fun. Love that they kept the kids entertained, totally worth the money. Those beach photos are seriously giving this girl beach fever too. Take me away!

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  9. Wow I think my husband would like that pirate cruise as much as the kids!!

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  10. I love all these pics! I wrote this down to remember if we ever go to Panama City! I love the pics of Mase, bug the flexing ones are seriously my favorite!!!!!

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  11. You've just confirmed that we must take Noah on one of these pirate cruises. We saw one off the coast of Baltimore when Noah was only 2 1/2 and thought he was a little young. But I totally think he's ready now!!!

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  12. That pirate cruise sounded like SO much fun! Mason made the cutest little pirate ever!

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  13. Cracking up at the pirate photos of Mason! He rocks it, that's for sure!

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Thanks for the comments! Hope you are having an amazing day!!