Whitecap Bay, often stylized as White Cap Bay is a location from the 2011 Disney film, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. It is also where mermaids have been known to gather for hundreds of years, and where Blackbeard's crew, including Captain Jack Sparrow, find themselves hunting a mermaid during the quest for the Fountain of Youth. Following the battle at Whitecap Bay, the mermaid Syrena was captured.
Background[]
Official Description[]
As presented as a description on the official Disney website:
- Beautiful, conniving, and dangerous, these Mermaids will do anything to protect their home in Whitecap Bay.
- Whitecap Bay is the final leg of the journey for the Fountain of Youth. It is also where mermaids have been known to gather for hundreds of years, thereby striking terror in the heart of sailors and pirates alike. Drawn to the surface by a singing sailor, they entrance their prey before dragging them to the depths of the Bay to devour them.
- The mermaids must defend against Blackbeard and his crew as they attempt to capture a live mermaid to harvest the Mermaid's Tear demanded by the Fountain of Youth ritual.
Further detail is given to Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: The Visual Guide:
- Doom awaits any misguided mariner who seeks out the perilous waters of Whitecap Bay. Myths tell of mermaids lurking beneath the pale, foaming breakers, but few know that these briny beauties are actually flesh-eating creatures. When Blackbeard locates these denizens of the deep, he and his crew find themselves surrounded by vengeful foes consumed with rage against mankind.
The visual guide also talks about how the remote lighthouse at Whitecap Bay is of ancient design, with a convex lens standing in front of an oil-fired beacon. The cove's rocks offer no refuge from mermaids, as they can survive long enough on land to drag a human back into the sea where they can entangle their foe in a powerful grip. Legend has it that man-made light and song attract the sirens of the sea, so the boat is lit by the beam of the lighthouse and Scrum sings a swaying sea shanty My Jolly Sailor Bold. Soon, the longboat full of members of Blackbeard's crew is surrounded by more mermaids and a fierce battle between the mermaids and pirates produces a live mermaid, but at the cost of many of the crewmembers' lives.
Appearances[]
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides[]
Under command by Blackbeard to get tears for the ritual at the Fountain of Youth, it is said that Whitecap Bay is a dangerous area inhabited by mermaids which could drag victims to their doom in a plan to get the tears. Arriving at the spot, mermaids surround Scrum as he sings "My Jolly Sailor Bold" as some mermaids arrive towards the crew. When one of the mermaids Tamara arrives, she and the other mermaids prepare to drown the surviving crew members as the crew noticed that mermaids are a threat to them. Jack Sparrow then plans on getting an idea to scare off the mermaids by going to the lighthouse, to which he causes an explosion to cause the mermaids to retreat. All retreat, except one named Syrena who is captured during battle. Afterwards, the crew continues proceeding to the Fountain.
Trivia[]
- Whitecap Bay was filmed in three locations for On Stranger Tides. The scene where Hector Barbossa and his crew are ashore was filmed in Halona Cove in Oahu, Hawaii. The scene where the mermaid attack against Blackbeard's crew occurred was in a set built at the "Falls Lake" section of Universal Studios in Los Angeles. The exterior of the longboat at Whitecap Bay scene was filmed in the H stage at Pinewood Studios.
- Early in the development process of On Stranger Tides, Whitecap Bay was going to be named Crow's Nest Bay.
- Other than Whitecap Bay, mermaids also lived in Isla Sirena.