HISTORY : In 1990s, the Columbus Crew Had Better Time : A two-year trip by 3 recreated caravels marking the explorer’s voyage nears its final destination.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — In the cargo hold of the Spanish caravel, Nina, docked at the wharf of this scenic Chesapeake Bay town, First Mate Ernesto (Teto) Perez Dominguez gestures toward his bunk, which hangs from chains, and puts a hand upon his forehead.

“For two years I have slept on that bed,” he says in Spanish. “Two years away from my wife and children. But that’s not even the worst part. Can you imagine what it is like with a hangover?”

Still, he says, these and other inconveniences are a small price to pay for the Spanish crewmen who were lucky enough to be asked to serve aboard the caravels Pinta, Santa Maria or Nina.

Dominguez, 37, is one of more than 60 crewmen (there are no women) who are part of the Spain ’92 Foundation’s tour of the Americas. The trip celebrates the 500th anniversary of the voyage of Columbus.

The men come from cities throughout Spain, but many are from the same small coastal towns along the Atlantic in the south of Spain.

“These are the same men who went with Columbus,” Dominguez says. “Their families have been fishermen and sailors for generations. It is in their blood.”

The three authentically recreated caravels left here last week and went to Philadelphia on what may be the last leg of a two-year voyage. They arrive Friday in New York as part of the July 4th “Operation Sail” event. The New York arrival date was changed by one day after American Indians objected that the ships would be arriving on the anniversary of the Battle of Little Big Horn.

The ships originally made a European tour before leaving from the Spanish port of Huelva last October to retrace the original voyage of Columbus to the Bahamas and then conduct a 21-city tour of the U.S. East and Gulf coasts.

Although the ships were scheduled to go through the Panama Canal and visit Los Angeles this fall, the idea has been scrapped for a lack of funds. The last U.S. stop will likely be Boston in August, said a foundation spokesman.

“To get through the canal we would have to load the ships on a barge and it would cost $850,000,” said John-Marshall Klein, foundation spokesman in Washington, D.C. “Unless a millionaire comes up with the money, we’re not going.”

But the good times have rolled for the sailors, many of whom have plenty of sea tales to tell along with flamenco songs to play and a few novias --girlfriends who they left behind in ports along the way.

“The boats, they are the same as when Columbus sailed,” Dominguez says while taking a picture of some tourists as they take a picture of him aboard the Nina.

“But as sailors we have a much better time than they did 500 years ago. The people love to talk to us and we are happy to tell them about Spain.”

At ports in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and the East Coast, some groups have hurled insults and hung protest banners because they believe the voyage represents the celebration of brutal European colonization in the Americas.

In response to questions about those incidents, Dominguez hands over a photograph of a Cherokee Indian he met off the coast of Georgia and shows the necklace the man gave him.

“I understand some of the anger,” Dominguez says. “But it is 500 years later. Maybe it is time for brotherhood.”

But some protest has been tongue-in-cheek. Like the modern-day Vikings of the Longship Company Ltd., from Solomon’s Island, Md., who slipped into port here the other day dressed in 10th-Century clothes while rowing a replica Viking warship to challenge Spain’s claim of being the first Europeans to find America.

“We just wanted to let them know they had some competition,” said Bruce Blackistone, commander of the 32-foot vessel, Frydraca.

The wooden sailing ships, built to exacting specifications, are both sparse and small. The Nina is a 70-foot ship with a 20-foot beam, the Pinta is a 74-foot ship with a 20-foot beam and the flagship Santa Maria is a 97-foot ship with a 26-foot beam.

Since the ships are so slow, they sometimes are towed, which leaves plenty of time for the crew members to play cards and sing songs about the human condition--and the lack of cold beer out on the ocean.

“We can’t be drunk and sail. That is our pain,” one crew member says.

While the makeup of the crew has changed very little since leaving Spain, some sailors have just up and flown home because they were lonely or missed their families, Dominguez says.

The sailors in the 15th Century couldn’t do that, Dominguez says. “So I guess we have it a little easier.”

Lt. Commander Santiago Bolibar Pinero, the commander of the ships and a member of the Spanish Navy, says his crew has learned to respect the mariners of 1492.

“The sailors of that time were thought to be coarse people,” the commander says. “But their lives were very hard. And their sense of adventure must have been very strong for them to cross in those ships. After two years we realize now how lucky they were.”

Each day for the sailors has also been an adventure financially because after spending $14 million to keep the tour going, the government of Spain and assorted sponsors are reining in expenses, according to crew members.

“Each day is different,” says crew member Luis Eduardo Ferrer, 28, who plays Spanish guitar to the joy of his shipmates. “Sometimes I ask myself what I am doing bobbing along the ocean with 13 men in a hold the size of a rich man’s closet. But after a night of playing cards, drinking and swapping stories, I just tell myself it is the sailor’s life and when it is over I will miss it.”