Come Sail on our Orange Beach Pirate Cruise

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 Sail on our Orange Beach Pirate Ship Cruise as we bring the most unique form of family entertainment to the Alabama Gulf Coast Area. The American Star is located at 4575 South Wilson Blvd. Orange Beach, AL 36561.  Bring your young pirates aboard the American Star for a swashbuckling Pirate Adventure on Terry Cove in Orange Beach, Alabama. Your mini-mates will have the opportunity to act like pirates, get their face painted, and learn some pirate lingo. Once on board, all aboard will learn how to be a part of our Pirate Crew! You can learn how to put out a fire on our ship, catch cannonballs, earn your sea legs, hear true stories of pirate and privateer attacks in the legendary Pirates Cove, and hunt for the Captain's lost gold and treasure chest.  Watch out for any surprise attacks that we may have on board as a good way to cool ourselves off in the hot summer sun!

 

The American Star is fun for everyone, tall or small, young or old. If you and your group choose, there are a variety of fun pirate training games and activites from start to finish! If sailing the seas is more your style, you can keep your eyes over the side because remember, you never know what you can see aboard the American Star! During our warmer months, our cabin kids and little swabbies may get wet during some of our pirate training activites. We recommend they wear a swimsuit or bring a towel and a change of clothes. 

 

 

Free water and pirate pop provided to all!

As an added bonus we sometimes see dolphins!

 

 While the adventure is the focus of our maties, SAFETY is the focus of our experienced captain and crew aboard our 65 foot Coast Guard Certified Vessel. All children 8 and under are required to wear a life vest at all times and these are furnished. Any infant under 30lbs.on board must bring their own life vest. Orange Beach Pirate Ship is conveniently located in Hudson Marina at Skull Harbor. Just look for the Pirate Flags! This complete adventure lasts a total of 1 and a half hours from treasure hunt to our triumphant return back to the dock. 

 

Welcome Aboard the American Star! 

 

Our new maties will board the ship ready for a swashbuckling adventure. Once underway, Captain Barnacle and crew will train all to be a part of our pirate crew! Our mission on this trip is to discover the lost gold of Pirate's Cove!! 

  Years ago, the pirates would hide from the Spanish Navy at Pirate's Cove and many times would bury their treasure all around the islands.  Our great captain has just discovered a SECRET TREASURE MAP.  However, it was stolen from him and the maties aboard will have to help him capture it back!  We may encounter many bad pirates who will chase us and try to follow us as we plot our course on our secret Treasure Map in order to find the hidden gold.  On some trips, we may even need to prepare for gun battle as we follow the trail along the map and we may even fire the cannon. So maties beware!! We will chase away the horrible scallywag who has stowed away aboard our ship while we search for the hidden treasure. We may even have to put him in the dungeon, where scallywags are known to be thrown. All hands on deck will be needed to help the captain find this traitor and gain back his stolen gold!  If we are successful in our search and find the Gold, the celebration will begin!   All of our maties will reap the rewards of drinks and celebration. There will be a lot of dancing and pirate games too! We love to have our limbo contest on the front deck.  Lively Lindy thinks she can't be beat.  So come on aboard our ship and give her some competition!

Our pirate ship is an all wooden boat, designed to match the replica of The Pinta which sailed the seas back in the late 1400's.  Imagine the life of the crew who used to make the journey all the way across the Atlantic aboard a boat just like ours! Perdido Pass, Lost Key and Perdido Bay -- got their name because of the pirates who hid there and ravished ships going into the ports of Pensacola and Mobile. The pirates could hide here -- get fresh water and not be seen until they were ready to come out into the Gulf. Members of the Baldwin County Historical Society believe that because of this, Baldwin County may be the site of authentic buried pirate treasure.

Experience the pirate life, and enjoy a fun-filled adventure aboard the American Star. There is no other trip like it here!

Pirate History

Pirates frequented the coast for over one hundred and thirty eight years preying on Spanish galleons. They hid in Perdido Bay, which means Lost because the entrance to the bay was difficult to find. Captain Billie Bowleg's treasure is still being sought today.

Perdido Bay apparently got its name because the mouth of the bay was very narrow and made a sudden turn before opening up into the larger bay. This made the bay hard to find by a ship moving along the coast. Rumor has it that pirates of the 17th and 18th centuries buried treasure on the shores of the bay because it was difficult to find, and shoals in the narrow mouth made entering the bay a tricky maneuver. There have been repeated rumors that people have located buried treasure in shallow areas of the bay after a storm washed away sand, leaving the treasure uncovered, but the rumors haven't been confirmed. Since the states of Florida and Alabama both regard any treasure found in the water as property of the state, it's very likely that anyone finding treasure in the water would remove it secretly.

The mouth of the bay has shifted positions many times in recorded history. No doubt this occurred after hurricanes passed through the area. A map - the source of which I have forgotten - shows the shifts in the mouth since 1867. Unfortunately the map is very difficult to read, but it appears that at the 1911 mapping, the bay had two mouths. Captain Jean Laffitte was also known to come through the Pass and fire a cannon.  This large explosion would scare all birds away off of the pilings that are seen in the area.  However, those chasing him would not know that the Captain had earlier placed fake birds atop of certain pilings that would mark a channel to guide him through the ever-changing shallow waters at the entrance.  As he followed these specifically marked routes, his persuers would run aground as the real birds would fly back to other pilings, strategically covering up his marked channel.  Today, Captain Shivermyfingers uses this same channel to navigate through the waters on the very excursion you enjoy today in the Orange Beach, Gulf Shores, and Fort Morgan area!  Experience the pirate life, and enjoy a fun-filled adventure aboard the American Star.  There is no other trip like it around!