If you haven't taken a moment to visit the Nina and the Pinta, do so. Time is running short before the replicas of two of the three vessels in which Christopher Columbus discovered the New World more than 500 years ago leave for their next stop.

The floating museums offer a glimpse to a time when intercontinental travel wasn't a matter of driving to the nearest international airport or boarding a luxury hotel/spa/golf course that just happens to float across the high seas.

Columbus and his crews were crammed onto tiny wooden ships. There wasn't much in the way of weather protection beyond the cargo hold or the open lower deck where the tiller operator steered the sailing vessel. There was no GPS, no radar, no big halogen spotlights to use to help see ahead at night. Once away from land, the sailors of 500 years ago were quite on their own.

Those lessons are valuable to teach to schoolchildren and adults alike, in an era where it's easy for liberal and revisionist scholars to say Columbus brought the worst of the Old World into the New World. One glimpse at these ships prove the journeys of the explorer and his crew were about sheer guts and a thirst for something beyond the known world.

The Nina is as exact a replica of one of Columbus' caravelles as ever has been built, while the Pinta is a larger version of the same ship. The Columbus Foundation has built and kept these ships afloat for more than 20 years, providing a chance to learn and think about the discovery of America.

The two ships will be at the Steubenville Marina through early Monday, when, weather permitting, they'll head north on the Ohio River.

Meanwhile, they're open daily to visitors who, for a small donation, can walk into a time machine and experience history with their eyes, their ears and their hands and feet.

It's worth the donation, and we thank the volunteers and crews who maintain and sail these ships from place to place.

Long may their lessons be taught.