Yo ho ho and a bottle of hand sanitizer! Settle in me hardies for the tale of the Black Raven’s piratical pandemic adventures on land and how the Queen Anne’s Revenge and the Black Raven are about to set sail once more this Memorial Day weekend.

For months the pirate crew of Black Raven Adventures has put their backs into lifting the spirits of those celebrating their birthdays, anniversaries and graduations in captivity at no charge.

On Thursday, May 21, the ships will break free of their pestilential quarantine bonds to bring fun and frolic back to St. Augustine, Florida with a whole new show and a carefully crafted social distancing plan to keep everyone safe from COVID-19. Masks are welcome, but not required.

Treasure Hunt trips will once again depart daily at 2:15 and 6:15 pm, 7 days a week. Just in time to celebrate Memorial Day Weekend.

What did a passel of bloodthirsty pirates do during a pandemic? Well, they didn't just sit around getting squiffy! As it turns out, they spread joy, mischief and toilet paper.

‘Twas the noblest act for pirates indeed that for months Lady Red McGill (Aimee Parker-Weed), Bella Sangria (Elizabeth Myers), Tim McFinn (Tim Lamb), ‘Ole Cracker (Sean Landenberger) and Walker Plankton (Richard Azzarello) have gone out at no charge to provide locked-down landlubbers a welcome break from the monotony.

“For the past two months they’ve been going to people’s houses and singing & sword fighting at graduations and birthdays for free,” said Grace St. Clare, of the Black Raven crew. “They’ve been handing out treasure. They put their swords into a treasure bag and come out with the greatest treasure, what’s most sought-after during the COVID-19 situation - toilet paper!”

Booty for the booty indeed!

Navigating the waters of the reopening and keeping families safe has been keeping Blackbeard (Mike Tulinski) busy scripting a whole new social distancing-friendly show, “Gonna be a lot more cannon fire. A lot more sword fighting."

"The bad guys are gonna get badder," he adds in character. "Aye! That we be. That be the theory anyway. The Queen Anne’s Revenge’s gonna be out a whole lot more.”

Tulinski, a mechanic who also owns Michshaleen Auto & Marine Repair, actually built the Queen Anne’s Revenge in his front yard.

“We used to paint faces and teach sword fighting,” St. Clare explains. “Can’t do those. And now we will have smaller groups, separated by families, not all mushed together. Also, we used to do swordfight training for the kids. Now it’s gonna be more battling for them to watch.”

After months of playing by the rules, it’s not surprising to learn what Tulinski misses most about being Blackbeard, “Being a bad guy a-course! I miss the kids," he crowed. "It’s fun to be the scary guy.”

St. Clare adds that the ships themselves are feeling quite peevish and are “frisky” for battle.

“We threw the ships into Davey Jones’ Locker for two months,” she explains in a pirate-worthy brogue. “The ships are angry. If you see the water boiling it’s them. When they come back that’s what the big disturbance on the water is. They’re coming back up and they’re angry.”

Although, she confides, "'Tis a well-known fact in pirate circles that the Queen Anne’s Revenge is always mad at the Black Raven."

So come on out! It is time for fresh air, sunshine and piratey adventures, with the proper social distancing of course. Call 877-578-5050 or go to the website.