Columbus ship replicas sail into Mississippi harbor
With about a dozen spectators lining a pier on Mississippi's Gulf Coast and aiming their phones out to the horizon, the Niña and Pinta sailed Wednesday right into a Biloxi harbor.
Christopher Columbus sailed over the Atlantic on the Niña on his three voyages of discovery to the brand new World from 1492.
The original Niña was last heard from in 1501, but the replica, which was finished in 1991, serves as a floating museum. It was built entirely yourself, without the use of power tools, and is considered to be the most historically accurate Columbus ship replica ever built.
The Pinta replica was built-in Brazil and launched in 2005 to accompany the Niña on travels. It's a more substantial version of the archetypal "caravel," the word for a Portuguese ship used by Columbus and several early explorers.
While in port, the ships will most probably for public tours, beginning Thursday. They are scheduled to leave Biloxi on Monday morning.
After a week-long stop in Gulf Shores, Alabama, beginning March 4, the ships will head to Florida, where they have scheduled stops in Fort Walton Beach, Venice, Vero Beach and Fernandina Beach.
