Jack Sparrow’s compass points to what you want most. On set, someone held a magnet underneath it. Choose a want below and see where it leads.
The prop, 2002 · six made, four that open
Jack Sparrow’s compass was made to spin on screen by holding a magnet underneath it. Four opening and two closed compasses were made for the film.
Underneath: the magnet. Our drawing, not the prop.
What do you want most?
The magnet is resting. The needle points nowhere in particular.
Bearings are measured from Wallilabou Bay, where the film’s Port Royal was built, to the real place. The magnet does the rest.
One of them was sent back from the set to England to be made again, because the Caribbean climate had bowed its lid slightly.
Wallilabou Bay, St Vincent
Disney’s film record says the Caribbean filming took place in St Vincent and the Grenadines. The film was shot on St Vincent in 2002. Its Port Royal is based on a 17th-century town in Jamaica.
Skeleton pirates, coffins, gallows, nooses and even a pirate dungeon are still on the property, and some of the cast and crew stayed in the hotel rooms on the water.
The parts of the set on public land disappeared long ago; those on private property remain largely intact.
In January 2024 the tourism minister, Carlos James, said the government would design a Pirates of the Caribbean park at Wallilabou, with a restaurant, a pool and beach access for people arriving by sea. The hope was to build it in 2025.
The bay and its beach are public, and tours run up the leeward coast from Kingstown. The set pieces that survive stand on private property: ask before you walk in.
St Vincent
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Port Townsend, September 2002
She played the Interceptor and was the only complete, seaworthy ship in the film; the other two were partial boats built as sets.
0% aged. Fresh navy, blue and cream, straight from the yard.
Rub the hull to age it, or use the button. Our drawing; the colours are the ones the paper reported.
In September 2002, at the Port Townsend yard, Hollywood crews spent two weeks aging the new navy, blue and cream paint on the 112-foot brig, a replica of a ship of the 1780s, for The Pirates of the Caribbean.
Her skipper, Brad Sousa, joked that they were ruining his paint job.
Forty crew sailed with her; three were aboard for the whole voyage. Captain Mark Griffin gave Johnny Depp a crash course in sailing her in Los Angeles.
In 2026 the Seaport lists her at Port Townsend for restoration, nearing its final phase.
In restoration at Port Townsend; the yard is a working boatyard, so look from the public edge. The Seaport posts the ship’s sailing schedule, with 2027 dates still to come.
Petit Tabac, Tobago Cays
Petit Tabac was a filming location for the first Pirates of the Caribbean film: the island where Jack Sparrow is marooned with Elizabeth Swann, and where she sets fire to his stash of rum.
Petit Tabac is the fifth cay, lying just outside the main reef, and is mostly white sand and coconut palms.
The Tobago Cays Marine Park was set up in 1998. The cays are full of green turtles, and a turtle-watching reserve marked by linked buoys lies off the south-west of Baradal.
Reach it by boat from Union Island or Mayreau. Park fees are paid at the Marine Park offices on Mayreau and Union, or to the wardens when you arrive; boat trips usually include them.
The Grenadines
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Compare tripsFive barrels on the sand. The fire is laid.
Two forts called Charles
The film’s Port Royal is based on the 17th-century Jamaican town; its fort was built in California.
The set · Palos Verdes, 2002
The set for Port Royal’s Fort Charles was built on a bluff at Palos Verdes, California.
Terranea lists Pirates of the Caribbean among the productions filmed on its land. The site was Marineland of the Pacific, which opened in 1954 as the world’s largest oceanarium and closed in 1986. The resort opened in June 2009 on 102 acres.
The California Coastal Trail marks the Long Point entrance as the former site of Marineland, now used for movie sets, and says beach access will remain.
The coast path and beach access are public; the entry gate closes to cars at sunset and there is no parking on Palos Verdes Drive.
Rancho Palos Verdes, California · Rates on booking · 100 Terranea Way
The 102-acre oceanfront resort on the old Marineland bluff at Long Point, open since June 2009. It lists Pirates of the Caribbean among the productions filmed on its land.
Check roomsThe real one · Port Royal, Jamaica
The real Fort Charles was built in the late 1650s and changed several times up to 1670. It had 36 guns in 1667, and by 1765 it had 104 guns and a garrison of 500.
The fort reopened to the public on 24 February 2020. Port Royal grew into a hub of regional and transatlantic trade, including the trade in enslaved Africans. An earthquake sank much of the town.
UNESCO inscribed the town’s remains on the World Heritage List on 12 July 2025.
Port Royal is a drive along the Palisadoes from Kingston. Check opening times locally; the parade ground has little shade.
Kingston, Jamaica
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Compare tripsNew Orleans Square, Disneyland · 18 March 1967
The ride opened in New Orleans Square on 18 March 1967, one of the most elaborate uses of Audio-Animatronics figures Disney had tried.
By boat, past figures that move: Audio-Animatronics, chosen after the 1964 World’s Fair.
Walt Disney worked on it at length but died before it was finished. When he first designed it in the 1950s he imagined a wax museum you would walk through. After the Carousel of Progress at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, he and his Imagineers chose Audio-Animatronics instead.
The film is an homage to the ride, and its premiere was held at Disneyland on 28 June 2003. It opened on 9 July 2003.
The ride was revised in 2006 to add Captain Jack Sparrow.
Inside Disneyland Park (ticket required), in New Orleans Square. Any height can ride. The Blue Bayou restaurant looks over the ride’s water.
New Orleans Square, Disneyland Park, Anaheim
Adventureland, Magic Kingdom Park, Walt Disney World, Bay Lake
Magic Kingdom’s version opened in 1973; Tokyo Disneyland followed in 1983 and Disneyland Paris in 1992. Like Disneyland’s, it was revised in 2006 to add Captain Jack Sparrow; Tokyo’s followed in 2007.
Inside Magic Kingdom Park, Walt Disney World (ticket required).
Portsmouth, Dominica · the next films
Not this film: Dominica’s tourism board says much of the second film, and some scenes of the third, At World’s End, were shot on the island.
The Indian River became the films’ Pantano River. It is the widest river on the island, and many visitors make it their first boat ride.
The same page names Titou Gorge, in Morne Trois Pitons National Park, as the place where Will Turner and his shipmates hang in bone cages.
Local boatmen row visitors up through brackish wetlands, the canopy closing overhead and mangrove roots reaching into the water.
Rowing-boat tours with licensed local boatmen start at the river mouth in Portsmouth.
Portsmouth, Dominica
Live marketplace results for rowing-boat trips up the Indian River from Portsmouth, where the sequels shot the Pantano River.
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Compare tours8 places you can visit, from the leeward coast of St Vincent to a boatyard in Washington State. The surviving set pieces at Wallilabou are on private land and share the bay’s pin; Dominica is where the sequels went.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The bay and its beach are public, and tours run up the leeward coast from Kingstown. The set pieces that survive stand on private property: ask before you walk in.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Reach it by boat from Union Island or Mayreau. Park fees are paid at the Marine Park offices on Mayreau and Union, or to the wardens when you arrive; boat trips usually include them.
Wallilabou Bay, Barrouallie, on the leeward coast of St Vincent
Disney’s film record says the Caribbean filming took place in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The bay and its beach are public, and tours run up the leeward coast from Kingstown. The set pieces that survive stand on private property: ask before you walk in.
Petit Tabac, Tobago Cays Marine Park, east of Mayreau, the Grenadines
Petit Tabac was a filming location for the first Pirates of the Caribbean film: the island where Jack Sparrow is marooned with Elizabeth Swann, and where she sets fire to his stash of rum.
Reach it by boat from Union Island or Mayreau. Park fees are paid at the Marine Park offices on Mayreau and Union, or to the wardens when you arrive; boat trips usually include them.
Stay
Terranea, on the Palos Verdes land where the Fort Charles set stood.
Rancho Palos Verdes, California · Rates on booking · 100 Terranea Way
The 102-acre oceanfront resort on the old Marineland bluff at Long Point, open since June 2009. It lists Pirates of the Caribbean among the productions filmed on its land.
Check roomsGo there
Trips to Wallilabou, the Tobago Cays, the Indian River and Port Royal, from the marketplace.
St Vincent
Live marketplace results for half-day trips up St Vincent’s leeward coast to the Port Royal set at Wallilabou. Check what each one includes.
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Compare toursThe Grenadines
Live marketplace results for day sails and snorkel trips to the Tobago Cays. Marine Park fees are usually included; check before you book.
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Live marketplace results for rowing-boat trips up the Indian River from Portsmouth, where the sequels shot the Pantano River.
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Compare toursKingston, Jamaica
Live marketplace results for trips from Kingston to Port Royal and Fort Charles.
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Compare tripsWhat’s on
The Lady Washington’s 2027 sailings are still to be announced; we will add them when they are.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
Take it home
Jason Surrell’s history of the ride and the films, and the 2003 soundtrack album. We have no original posters for this film in stock.
Jason Surrell
Jason Surrell’s history of the ride and how it became the films; Disney Editions, 2005.
Find the bookKlaus Badelt · CD, Walt Disney Records, 2003
The soundtrack album, released by Walt Disney Records in the US on 22 July 2003.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Lanterns out. The needle settles.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
8 of 8 places · 21 of 21 Moments
Wallilabou Bay, Barrouallie, on the leeward coast of St Vincent
The Caribbean filming takes place on St Vincent, where Wallilabou Bay stands in for Port Royal.
Coffins, gallows and skeleton pirates stay at Wallilabou after the crew leaves.
St Vincent’s tourism minister announces plans for a Pirates of the Caribbean park at Wallilabou.
Jack’s compass spins on screen because someone holds a magnet under it; six are made, four that open.
The Caribbean climate bows a compass lid and it goes back to England to be made again.
Petit Tabac, Tobago Cays Marine Park, east of Mayreau, the Grenadines
Jack and Elizabeth are marooned on Petit Tabac, and she sets fire to his rum.
Long Point, Rancho Palos Verdes, now Terranea Resort, 100 Terranea Way
The set for Port Royal’s Fort Charles is built on a bluff at Palos Verdes.
The bluff was Marineland of the Pacific from 1954 to 1986, then a location for film sets.
Port Townsend Boat Haven, Port Townsend, Washington; home port Aberdeen
Hollywood crews spend two weeks aging the Lady Washington’s new paint at Port Townsend.
The Lady plays the Interceptor, the only complete, seaworthy ship in the film.
The Lady sails to Los Angeles, through the Panama Canal to St Vincent and home: nearly 9,800 nautical miles.
Captain Mark Griffin teaches Johnny Depp to sail the Lady in Los Angeles.
The Lady is in restoration at Port Townsend, nearing the final phase.
New Orleans Square, Disneyland Park, Anaheim
Pirates of the Caribbean opens in New Orleans Square, months after Walt Disney’s death.
Walt Disney’s 1950s idea is a walk-through wax museum; after the 1964 World’s Fair it becomes a ride of Audio-Animatronics.
The film, an homage to the ride, has its première at Disneyland.
The ride is revised to add Captain Jack Sparrow.
Adventureland, Magic Kingdom Park, Walt Disney World, Bay Lake
Magic Kingdom opens its own Pirates of the Caribbean.
Fort Charles, Port Royal, at the end of the Palisadoes, Kingston
The film’s Port Royal is based on the 17th-century Jamaican town; its fort was built in California.
UNESCO inscribes the remains of 17th-century Port Royal on the World Heritage List.
The Indian River, just north of Portsmouth, Dominica
The sequels go to Dominica, and the Indian River becomes the Pantano River.
