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Pat Croce's Pirate Soul Museum Front & Simonton Streets (1 block off of Duval) 305-292-1113
$12.00
plus tax per person Located on Front & Simonton Streets right near the Pier House Resort and Spa just a block away from Duval Street lies and interesting museum that covers the life and times of several pirates that roamed the high seas both here in the Caribbean and Atlantic and abroad in the Mediterranean. Great stories about these pirates are posted around the facility offering a view into their lives and their grisly demise. Entering we were not rushed at all through the facility as there were no other patrons while we visited mid-day on a Sunday so we were able to study all of the information that was offered both on the walls in nicely done plaques and well displayed (seemingly original) artifacts. There was also an interactive touch screen display about the lives of these particular pirates. Sort of a neat point was the listening room where the sound quality was excellent telling the story of a pirate ship invasion giving you the feel of being there this 3 minute part of the self-guided tour was pretty well done. In a mock up of a ship there are also some boxes that were to be smelled after the visitor pushes a button, however I think most folks would be afraid something was going to jump out. Lots of base sounds and watery on a ship noises make you sort of feel like you are on a very clean pirate ship. After you finish looking around you will expect to be exited out through the gift shop. As for audience, the kids may get a bit bored having to read so much. The audio visual portion is limited and may rush the parents along as the kids zoom through. For adults, it's pretty cool to read about “real” pirates. I enjoyed the rich history that it brought; however, till the very end there was nothing tied to Key West History about the pirates. I think they could have done something with the wreckers along these lines to tie in some local history. I found the entry fee to be pretty high for what was offered. Considering Disney is around fifty dollars for an extra full day of entertainment this place offered me about an hour. The information offered was very good and well researched; however, the museum repeated the same stories three and sometimes four times to make the tour longer and give the feeling of worth-while. The artifacts looked authentic and were interesting and well explained by accompanying plaques. I felt as though they could have gone into more shipboard life for pirates which would have helped them fill the void. *I was unimpressed with the management of the place that was there when we visited. Hard to tell who worked the counter and who did not, pretty disorganized. In a wrap, check it out to learn about pirates, not much Keys History and sort of redundant with some nice viewing of artifacts and some audio visual effects. Not really worth $12.00 to me; however, if you are looking for something to do off the beaten path this may burn an hour or so. See you in the Keys - Capt. Steven |