potcvids

June 23, 2005, another glorious day on Vancouver Island. Across the horizon, scrapping the deep blue sky, are masts and sails of magnificent Tall Ships heading for one of Canada's busiest harbours, ... Victoria, British Columbia. People of all ages crowded around the inner harbour to catch a glimpse of these incredible vessels in their glory. Unfortunately I did not have the pleasure to see the ships sail past the breakwater to their individual berths. But on June 25th, 2005 my family and I decided spontaneously to do something crazy and out of the ordinary - dress up as individual cast members of "Pirates of the Caribbean". Why? Because we're nuts! No,... because luck would have it that one of the vessels of display was the very ship used in the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean",... 'The Lady Washington', (known in the movie as the 'Interceptor')

Nerves and excitement took the better of me while I was putting on my make-up that morning. Thoughts of "should we really be doing this or are we going to look like 'Star Trek' groupies", clouded my enthusiasm periodically. How does that saying go? "Nothing ventured nothing gained"! I suppose.

So, by 11:30am we had accomplished "Barbossa" (Bob Pearson), "A soldier" (Spencer Pearson), "Elizabeth Swann" (Victoria Pearson), "Will Turner" (Erin Rooke) and then me, Denise Pearson as "Captain Jack Sparrow"

We arrived at Victoria's huge extravaganza by 12:30, unfortunately too late to get on "The Lady Washington" that day. Apparently the line up for the "Lady" had started at 7:00 that morning and sold out when the gates opened at 10:00 am. We were told by one of the volunteers to dress up again the next day, come a little earlier, and we should have no problem getting on board. Somewhat disappointed, we venturedoff to wander the grounds, take pictures of the ships off shore and visit the other ships that didn't require tickets. Little did we know what lay ahead of us that afternoon and how our time was going to be fully occupied.

Driving down to the Tall Ships was a bit of an adventure in it's self. Spencer was worried of stoping at a stop light because we might stop beside someone he knew. Victoria and Erin on the other hand were all to happy to stop. They just wanted to look at the stunned and confused faces of the people in the car beside us. Can you imagine pulling up beside a car full of pirates?

We all began to make jokes about what would happen if a cop pulled us over. That was a good laugh.

As we wandered around, the response from the general public was tremendous. It put all of us on a high, (except Spencer, who's nerves were making him sick fearing he might get spotted by a classmate). People were approaching us from every angle asking if they could have their picture taken with all of us. As soon as one started , a crowd of others gathered around and followed suit with their cameras clicking and sticking their kids, spouse, parents, boyfriend, girlfriend,... who ever they could find, ahead of us.

One kind lady, who had her kid's picture taken with us earlier, had 3 tickets available for the "Talofa" at 2:30 that afternoon. She thought she might not be able to go because her ride home might show up before her allotted time. She asked if we would be interested. We accepted the kind offer with enthusiasm. She said we were not hard to spot, (ya think?) and that she would look for us should she have to leave early.

In the meantime,... an elderly lady pinned me down and said "Oh I just love Johnny Depp, I am such a fan of his! The resemblance is unbelievable! Do you think I can take your picture to take back to my daughter who is also a Johnny Depp fan? I would love to tease her and tell her I met Johnny at the Tall Ships in Victoria!" Okay,... yes,... laughing, I posed for her. Minutes later she came back and asked if she could take another photo of me, this time with her in it. I was flattered!

We were surrounded by various comments that were hilarious and amazing. Here are a few of them:

My daughter Victoria, told me that as I walked past she over heard a little kid say to his mom: "Mommy, that man just talked and he sounded like a girl!" Erin and Victoria were in hysterics. My husband did forewarn me not to speak, as I would ruin the effect!
One guy yelled out: 'Eh,... Captain Jack Sparrow!" I said, "you know it!" Bewildered he said: "Ah,... Mrs. Captain Jack!"
We also had a lot of enthusiastic comments such as: "Now there is a family that knows how to have fun!" Or "There's a fun family!"
We were asked on numerous occasions if whether we belonged to some kind of theater group or if we were hired to do this. We would tell people we were just doing it for fun. Their thumbs went up!
A couple of little kids asked us if we were the actual cast! Their innocence just made you want to hug them.
On the docks, on our way to the Russian vessel, another child passed my husband who was ahead of us and said: "Mom, Mom, I think that was Barbo,..." then stopped in his tracks looking stunned when he saw the rest of us pass him by.
As we were walking over a float (to get to the other ships), many walked past us in silence,... everyone was staring,... what were they thinking,... whoa! Weird!
Another little girl approached Victoria: "Excuse me, are you supposed to be Elizabeth? She is my favourite and you are just as pretty as she is". I think Victoria was ready to cry.

Time passed,... the lady we had met earlier with the tickets found us at the porta-potties and did end up giving us her tickets. My husband Bob, Spencer and I were the ones chosen to go. Erin and Victoria were not that interested and stayed up above.

Off we went. To get to the 'Talofa' we had to pass 'The Lady Washington'. We decided to quickly take some pictures of its 'rear end' (stern) and instantly caused a stir. Cameras came flying out of hand bags, pockets, backpacks,.... "Oh please don't go, may I have a pictures of you?" Or "May I have a picture of all of you?" Or "May we have a picture with all of you?" It was endless,.... it was nuts! It was fun! We were allowed 15 minutes per ship per visit,... 7 minutes had slipped away and we didn't have a ship under our feet yet! One man with a huge camera stopped us and took several shots. Could this have been media? Hard to say. As we moved on to the 'Talofa', I walked past an oriental lady on her cell phone, who in fact had a photo taken with me earlier. She was all excited: "I just had my picture taken with a Johnny Depp/Jack Sparrow look-a-like,....!" I smiled as I moved along. It made me feel that the hours spent on make-up and costumes that morning was all worth it.

The 'Talofa' was a beautiful vessel, and once aboard we had just as much difficulty getting off as we did getting on. 25 minutes had lapsed. We were finally able to leave the dock area and join Erin and Victoria where we had left them. They were frantic,.... they were excited,... if I didn't know any better, I would have though they saw the real Johnny,.... "Mom some guy with a huge camera was telling some person that was with him about the Jack Sparrow look-a-like down by the ships and how he was going to blow up one of the pictures and sign it 'Johnny Depp' and see what happens!" Victoria said in a run on sentence. Stunned, I thought,... 'darn,....I could have made money!' (kiddin'). He had spotted Victoria and Erin all dressed up and took their pictures too.

We ventured over to the causeway near the Empress Hotel, and a gentleman standing near a booth of sorts, spotted me. He called out, "I dunno, but I am questioning my manhood,... I am finding myself awfully attracted to you!" To put him our of his misery, my husband produced an actual photo of me.

On our way to visit the Russian ship, a man and his woman stepped up to us and shook our hands. During our conversation another gentleman wearing a Maritime Museum shirt and tag asked us to pose for pictures. Along came some of the Russian crew members and followed suit,...

The Russian ship was a spectacular display of grandeur. It was also our last item on our list of "to do" before heading home.

On the way back to the car, we were bombarded one last time by people with cameras. But this time we got smart, we asked them if they could take a group shot of us with our camera. Out of nowhere, 3 oriental guys showed up in our group shot! Okay, where did they come from? Where were they hiding? Too funny!

Sunday June 26, 2005. The weather was not as pleasant as yesterday, but it didn't deter people from joining in the Tall Ship festivities.

We were early enough to get on "The Lady Washington". As we were standing in line, a repeat of Saturday happened all over again,... cameras flashing, videos rolling,... it didn't stop. Once aboard, Erin and Victoria touched EVERYTHING Johnny and Orlando may have left a hand print behind! " I am never going to wash this hand again!" Victoria announced. "I'm plasticizing mine", Erin exclaimed. They decided to both take it one step farther,... they kissed a part of the ship where Johnny and/or Orlando may have planted their butts, hence the pictures.

After the thrill of being on 'The Lady Washington', receiving a magnificent tour and crew members filling us in on its history and existence, we strolled over to the Mexican ship, towering half as tall as the Russian vessel. On our way, volunteers stopped and play acted along with us causing a stir with the public and cause for more photos!

After a tour of the Mexican ship and pictures with the crew, hunger and cold hastened the decision to end our wonderful weekend, but not without one last comment! As we were leaving I over heard a woman telling 2 other guys, " I saw them yesterday too,... I don't know if Jack is a he or a she...!" "I'm a SHE!" I yelled back. "Thank you for clearing that up for me!" She answered.

What a weekend!!! The enthusiasm of the Victorians made it all worth the while. The Tall Ships were an incredible setting. The costumes, just a bonus. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought it could have been this much fun!!!

Thanks for reading.

Piczo