Hollywood gave us peg legs, parrots and eyeliner, but the Caribbean's pirate past is genuinely real — and surprisingly easy to visit. In the late 1600s and early 1700s, ships carrying American treasure back to Europe made the region the world's most dangerous waters, and several islands still hold authentic traces of that lawless era. Here's where to look.

Nassau in the Bahamas was essentially a pirate republic. From around 1706, outlaws ran New Providence island for over a decade thanks to shallow waters, busy trade routes and weak British control. The interactive Pirates of Nassau museum recreates the 1716 harbourfront with cutlasses, pistols and waxwork scenes of Anne Bonny and Mary Read splitting loot. Hilltop Fort Charlotte offers a harbour view once watched for frigates rather than cruise ships.

Jamaica's Port Royal was even wilder — supposedly the 'wickedest city on earth', where buccaneers traded protection against the Spanish for free rein in a town full of bars and brothels. Then, on 7 June 1692, an earthquake and tsunami swallowed two thirds of the city in minutes. The ruins remain underwater in remarkable condition, a kind of Pompeii of the deep. Divers can visit with special permission arranged through a local dive operator; dry land travellers can see the story told at Fort Charles Museum, the last surviving fort of six, and at the Institute of Jamaica in Kingston.

In the Dominican Republic, the wreck of the Quedagh Merchant — Captain Kidd's captured ship, missing for 300 years — was finally found in 2007 just 10 feet down off tiny Isla Catalina. It's now a Living Museum of the Sea: snorkellers glide past barnacled cannons and the coral and fish that have colonised the hull.

Other stops worth a detour: Blackbeard's Castle in Charlotte Amalie on St Thomas, a 17th-century watchtower with zero proof of its famous namesake but a knockout view. Tortuga island off Haiti, where pirates built the 24-gun Fort de Rocher — though only foundations remain, and Haiti's current security situation makes travel inadvisable. For the full experience, sail on a traditionally rigged tall ship: Star Clippers runs multi-day cruises, and Island Windjammers offers pirate-themed voyages in the Grenadines with costume contests, sea shanties and plenty of rum.

Film fans have their own trail. St Vincent doubled as Port Royal, Dominica's Morne Trois Pitons National Park became the cannibal island in Dead Man's Chest, and San Juan's Castillo San Cristóbal appears in On Stranger Tides.

Prefer your piracy festive rather than historical? The Cayman Islands' Pirates Week Festival, running nearly 50 years each November, brings mock beach invasions, fireworks, underwater treasure hunts and costume contests for both humans and dogs across Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac.

History buffs, divers and cruise passengers will all find something here — and unlike the movies, no green screen required.