El Galeón Andalucía

El Galeon Andalucia is as exact a replica as possible of one of Spain’s 16^th-​17^th century galleon ships and the only galleon class sailing ship in the world. Its sparred length is 171 feet, 495 tons. 7 sail square rigged, with a freeboard of 11’9″, a daft on 9’9″, 33’3″ beam, a 10,010 square foot sail area, working crew of twenty based out of Spain that travels the world but attempts to schedule a docking a Las Olas Marina to coincided with the Fort Lauderdale Boat Parade. Boarding her offers a fascinating 500 year step back in time to the days of Spain’s West Indies Trade, arrival of Juan Ponce de León, and the time of pirates, explorers, gold and treasurers of the New World.
Thanks to a first review tip off by Unilocaler Cherine A. I was able to board El Galeon Andlaucia, look her over and visit with her Spanish crew. I’ve been aboard many a replica ship, in fact my primary Unilocal profile picture has me standing in Barcelona in front of a replica of Columbus’s ship, but of all the historic replica ships I’ve been aboard, this one is the best as well as the most outstanding of them all. It’s a fully functional ship, has traveled around the world, and has its officer and crew quarters, cannon and most everything else as historically accurate as possible.
If you have any interest in the early sailing ships when Spain ruled the West Indies Trade as well as our home state of Florida, the El Galeon Andalucia is a must see.

I found out about El Galeón Andalucía visiting Fort Lauderdale from the Sun-​Sentinel. It is a replica of 16^th century treasure ships, similar to those used to explorers like Ponce de Leon. It looked impressive in the article, and seemed like a fun and different activity, so I decided to check it out on my day off.
Given that it was a Wednesday, I wasn’t entirely surprised that I was pretty much the only person on board the ship. I got to explore at my leisure, and they have signs at various parts telling you what it is you’re looking at and how it was used. The very front was roped off, so you couldn’t go past a certain point, and the same for the back. It’s too bad I couldn’t get a photo while holding the ship wheel (yep, it was behind the rope), because that would’ve been a pretty sweet photo op.
Once you’ve explored the deck, you can head down below where the cannons are, and read all of the information about these kinds of ships and how they were used. They even have iPads with information on various explorers and shipwrecks near Florida, as well as a game for kids on them. Then you can head down one deck lower and watch a movie on how the ship was built. I originally thought the $ 16 price tag was a bit high to visit this ship, but after seeing how incredibly detail-​oriented they were in crafting it and everything in it (even the furniture was hand-​crafted), I gained a new appreciation for just how complex a task it was to make such a fantastic replica. The movie doesn’t have any narration, just music, but it’s well worth watching.
El Galeón Andalucía is only in town until December 14^th, and is well worth the visit. Parking at the Las Olas Marina is super easy and cheap ($ 1 an hour), and you only need about an hour to see everything on the ship and take pictures, maybe longer if it is crowded.