A group of 21 Miami-Dade middle school kids arrived Saturday May 27, 2000 in San Juan, Puerto Rico to board the HMS Rose, a 179-foot wood frigate, which they will help crew on a trip back to Miami. The tall ships are the focus of a huge street festival in Old San Juan harbor. The ships depart Monday for Miami, the next stop for OpSail 2000.

In San Juan Saturday morning, May 27, 2000, Cheryl Marshall, a crew member aboard the HMS Rose climbs the rigging as they prepare the ship for their trip to Miami. A group of Miami Dade middle school students will help crew on the first leg of OpSail 2000, leaving Puerto Rico Monday, with an expected arrival in Miami June 6. HMS Rose is the largest active traditionally built wooden sailing ship in the world. A replica of a Colonial-era British frigate of 1857, she was built in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in 1970 and is complete with cannons. She is the only Class-A size US Coast Guard-inspected Sailing School Vessel in America. She is 179 feet overall, with a hull length of 135 feet, a draft of 13 feet and a beam of 32 feet. The main is 130 feet high and she displaces 500 tons.

After their first night aboard, students Roberto Gaitan, right, and Sabrina Jaline, left, learn line handling aboard the HMS Rose at dock in San Juan from Charlene Marshall, a deckhand on the ship. A group of 21 Miami-Dade middle school students were learning the ropes Sunday, May 28, 2000 aboard the HMS Rose, which they will help crew on the way back to Miami from San Juan.

Nightly fireworks explode over the Capitan Miranda during the tall ship festival in Old San Juan Saturday May 27. A group of 21 Miami-Dade middle school kids arrived Saturday May 27, 2000 in San Juan, Puerto Rico to board the HMS Rose, a 179-foot wood frigate, which they will help crew on a trip back to Miami. The tall ships are the focus of a huge street festival in Old San Juan harbor.

The "A" Watch gathers at the bow of the HMS Rose earlyh Sunday morning May 28, 2000 as a rainbow arcs over the customs house in Old San Juan in the background. The crew is divided into three watches of four hours each. A group of 21 Miami-Dade middle school students will help crew on the way back to Miami from San Juan.

A group of 21 Miami-Dade middle school students get their first breakfast aboard.