Whydah Pirate Museum, Massachusetts, United States

5lexmiller 5:00 PM Aug 7, 2021

Real pirates, real treasure, real underwater archaeology
Excellent science museum about real life pirates - nothing fictional here! The Whydah sank on the third leg of it's maiden voyage in 1717 off the coast of Wellfleet near what is now Marconi Beach. The wreck was discovered in 1984, with all of the treasure and artifacts still on board, undisturbed. The museum has countless fascinating displays of what has been recovered, detailing the culture of the early 1700s, what life onboard the vessel was like, specifics about the shipwreck itself, demonstrations of the recovery and preservation of the artifacts, and so on. There is something for everyone here. I do wish though that we had purchased the listening wands to hear more information - it can get tiring reading signage, personally speaking, and the wands I always find to be more engaging. So when you go, I do recommend them! We did have to book our entry time online in advance as CURRENTLY anyway, no admission is allowed if you just walk in; and, masks are required inside due to the Delta variant, and the close nature of the museum. All of this though could change, as the virus itself changes and our response to it. There are also guided tours of the museum - we hitched a ride, so to speak, with one of them for a bit, and we learned a lot, definitely more than from just reading the signage. So, get the listening wands or take one of the guided tours if possible, for the optimal experience. But no matter what, definitely go!

4Linda W 5:00 PM Jun 25, 2021

Impressive but Crowded
Amazing and informative museum. Learned lots more about pirates that I never knew before. The downside to the museum is that on the website they ask for reservations and to purchase tickets online which also includes a fee of $2.43 for processing. However, upon arrival there was a huge mass of unmasked people crowded at the entrance and in the lobby making it difficult if not impossible to keep a social distance. I was asked if I had a reservation and then asked after looking at the crowd if it really was necessary. I was told that they also excepted walkins which kind of negated in my opinion the entire reservation process. Not to mention that I paid a processing fee that I needed not to. The museum although it looks sizable from the outside was a bit smaller inside which made the amount of unmonitored people rather disconcerting. My suggestion would be to call ahead to see how crowded they were before going and to definitely not bother making a reservation online as it seems useless to do so.