At the Plymouth Pirates Weekend enjoy two days of swashbuckling fun with lots of activities for the whole family! It takes place on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th May across the Barbican and Sutton Harbour.
Here’s our guide to some of the activities on offer over the Plymouth Pirates Weekend…
Pirate Treasure Trail
The family treasure trail at various locations around the Barbican and Sutton Harbour – pick up your map for £2.50 from the Tourist Information Centre. Set out to find all the treasure and watch out for other pirates trying to peek at your answers – any cheats will be made to walk the plank 😉 Hand your completed map back to the Tourist Information Centre crew to win a prize!
Street Entertainment
With fair winds and kind seas, the loveable rogue Captain Sparrow (Jonty Depp) will be sailing back for the Plymouth Pirates Weekend on the Barbican. Jack can’t wait to meet and greet all the pirates of Plymouth, who knows where you might spot him on the Barbican as he parades around avoiding the authorities and keeping an eye out for treasures! There’s a huge amount of street entertainment through-out the weekend, see the full list of entertainment here
Pirates of the Carabina
Join the incredibly talented team from the Pirates of the Carabina on Saturday 7th May for their fun and energetic aerial workshops using silks and hoops. There’s lots of sessions throughout the day for everyone from beginners to those with a bit more experience – all workshops are free and will help introduce you to the fundamentals of Aerial.
These workshops are great for little people and grown-ups to have fun and learn to fly with new circus skills along the way. You’ll need to sign up on the day to take part – you will find them in the gazebo next to the Mayflower Tourist Information Centre. Workshops are held in the Barbican Theatre – see the full list of family workshops here. Consent forms are required to be filled in when signing up, and you can book the advanced workshop here
On Sunday 8th May 12-3pm on Commercial Wharf, the internationally acclaimed and award-winning Pirates of the Carabina will perform The Flying Taxi Show, a fun, free outdoor circus show featuring original live music, humour, a mechanically ingenious set, an extraordinary aerial performance plus hula-hooping, acrobatics and juggling.
Pirate Badge making
Choose a picture, take it to Quay Square opposite the Navy Pub near the Punch and Judy show and you can make a badge or fridge magnet on their machine. They have pirate and mermaid designs, so there’s something for everyone – for £1 it’s a fun activity to do and you’ll have a lovely keepsake from your Plymouth Pirates Weekend.
Tall Ships
There’s going to be Tall Ships docked at Quay Square that you can hop on board – the Grayhound and Johanna Lucretoa. You can climb aboard both for free and explore the ships from 10-4pm on both the Saturday and Sunday. The Grayhound Tall Ship is a three-masted sailing-ship made famous in the Warner Brothers 2015 film, In the Heart of the Sea. Based on a 1776 replica Customs Lugger, the Greyhound was built in 2010 using traditional boat building techniques.
For more info about this ship visit their website here
You can also take a trip onboard the Johanna Lucretia, an oak wooden two masted topsail schooner built at the Rhoos Shipyard, Ghent in Belgium in 1845.
The Atyla Tall Ship will be at Plymouth Sound, the only wooden ship of its kind that does adventure sailing trips internationally. This unique ship was made in the 1980’s using traditional techniques and still belongs to the same family that built it. For more info on this ship visit their website here
Sea Shanty Bands
You’ll find a large number of sea shanty bands at Plymouth Pirates Weekend – sea shanties are a type of collective folk song, traditionally performed on ships by fishermen, merchant sailors or whalers. The Pirates of St.Piran are a bunch of rowdy rumbustious pirates who love to sing rocky sea shanties and their original songs of the sea, all dressed in full pirate kit and with full pirate attitude! There’s lots of other shantymen performing over the course of the weekend, see the full list of sea shanty bands here
Watersports
Join the Mount Batten Pirates on a 30-minute Powerboat Experience over the Plymouth Pirates Weekend and see Plymouth Hoe, Drake’s Island and Plymouth Sound from a powerboat. Minimum number of 4 people to pre-book, individual spaces may be offered on the weekend. Pirate Powerboat Experiences will depart from the Mayflower Steps, all under 16s must be accompanied by an adult and be a minimum age of 8+. You must book online in advance or register with the team based outside the Tourist Information Centre – buoyancy aids and spray tops are provided.
GWR Official Travel Partner
Why not travel by train for a traffic free journey to the Pirates Weekend? Arrive on one of the regular mainline services from Cornwall and Exeter and beyond, or the picturesque Tamar valley line. Children under 5 travel for free and children aged 5-15yrs get 50% off their fare. You can save a ⅓ with a railcard or with a groupsave if you’re travelling in a group of 3 or more – see all the ways you can save on train travel here. Book your tickets at www.GWR.com
We hope you’ve been inspired to take a trip to Plymouth for the Plymouth Pirates Weekend, to see the full entertainment programme click here.
