Pirates in Paradise 2008 - Key West, Fl
Extra Page: The Encampments
(Photo: Red Jessi)
The encampment this year was three times the size it was last year. As I
mentioned in my journal, I counted 29 separate tents, not including
dining flies and such. Last year someone counted 9 tents.
It's not hard to convince people to come play pirate on the nicest
beach on the island of Key West. As you can see from the photo at right,
we had a lovely view from inside our tents. All the period tents were
allowed to be located in a large communal area with beach on two sides.
True, you do have to kick a lot of little pieces of coral around and a
hidden mattress of some kind won't go wasted, but it's the most lovely accommodation
-not to mention the most affordable- that you can get for the weekend of
Pirates in Paradise. Plus you're right in the middle of the action. With
the addition of the Sealkie's
Hide, our extraordinary ordinary, we had a great area to hang out,
drink, sing and chat.
There are a lot of photos in this section. All are of the sorts on
canvas encampments we hope the pirates might have used when sleeping
ashore.
(Photo: Mission)
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Above is a nice overview of the Mercury and Archangel camps. Below left: The campsite of Captain Sterling of the Archangel. He sleeps in that
off-white box which can serve as a coffin. (No, I don't know why.) Notice also the
punishment device so close at hand... Below right: the
Honeymoon suite tent and a lovely sunset view belonging to Mary Diamond of
the Archangels.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mary Diamond)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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Above is the Good Housekeeping award-winning campsite of Dutch
and Grace with
Archangel (on loan from Blackbeard's
Crew). As you can see, they really go in for the home accents. Note
the tastefully matching bucket and chest accessories. The netting offsets
the canvas and gives it that "just right" look.
Below: Notably not winning the Good Housekeeping award is Master
M.A. d'Dogge's encampment. At left: The sloping, sloppy, hammock-hanging
house; at right, the same, now featuring Mr. d'Dogge of the Archangel
crew.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Jessica Bagley)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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Above are the Mercury crew's Captain Jim's Oar Houses.
At left is Jim's bachelor
pad and...say, what is Edward O'Keefe doing there? Is there no honor
among thieves? At right another oar house that Jim graciously donated to
Delana for her use during the event. She brought her nylon tent again this
year and the rules got stricter on her, forcing her to set it up off-site.
Good ol' Captain Jim saved the day! Oh, and that's Patrick Hand with his
back to the camera in that shot. Below are the Mercury crew
encampments for Michael and Kate Souris (left) and Mark Gist (on
loan to the Mercury from the Pirates of the Scioto) and Nick and
Ashley (right).
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Red Jessi)
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(Photo: Edward and Lily)
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(Photo: Jessica Bagley)
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Above left is Mercury/Archangel crew members Edward
O'Keefe and Lily Alexander's tent. That's Lily standing in the door of
their manse welcoming you. At right is Captain Jim's Oar house from the
side (with the Mercury flag draped over the back of it) and Mercury
able Seaman Patrick Hand's simple
tent with rain fly over top and gear stowed beneath. Below left: the
great thing about tents tied to Australian Pines is that you can hang
clothes, bananas, undergarments and whatnot from the lines. Hey, they
gotta go somewhere! Below right is the Thatcher clan's encampment,
generously supplied by Capt. Bo. (The Thatchers were with the Mercury
crew.)
(Photo: Jessica Bagley)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Red Jessi)
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Above left is the tent assembly of the mysterious William and
Doug, who may possibly from Henry Morgan's or Captain Searle's or may just be
free lance camp thieves. Who can tell? At right is Willie Wobble's
wonderful enclave. The pic needs to be 5 times bigger to show all the
wonderful details. Willie is ostensibly with Pirates of the Coast. Below are some shots of the Taj Mahal of
tents belonging to Callenish Gunner and Saltypots. Each side features four
separate compartments with an opening into the second one (see photo at
right below). They can make up the cost by renting canvas apartments out.
BTW, in the photo below left, you see (from left) Callenish and Saltypots talking with Patrick Hand
in the lobby of the hotel.
(Photo: Nicole Andreyko, Callahan Digital Art)
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(Photo: Cpt. Sophia)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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Above and below are some of the Bone Island Buccaneer tents in
the encampment. I think these are interesting examples of the
varying sorts of dwellings one can have. The long, low tent below would
seem a bit confining to me, but it is certainly cozy. I am only sure that the one above right
belongs to Deadeye because I spent some indeterminate amount of time there
discussing philosophy.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Cpt. Sophia)
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(Photo: Nicole Andreyko, Callahan Digital Art)
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Above left is the lean-to of Captain Cutter's crew. At right:
Next door to Cutter's Crew is a tent belonging to Short Fuse, Mr. Coats
and Cutthroat Kate. Mr. Fuse and Kate work for the Pirate Soul
Museum.
This group was known throughout the campsite for their providing a
beverage called "Apple Pie" which tasted just like its namesake
from my experience. (Thanks to Zatara.Delavega
from the Pyracy Pub
Forum for the tent owner IDs.) Below are two of the encampments inside the
fort. At left is the Callahans encampment, digital center and convenient
storage site. At right is Crudbeard's tent. Now THAT'S what you call a
home security system. From left in that photo are Cascabel, Crudbeard,
Oreo (the bird) and Braze.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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