The Christmas Boat Parade

The Christmas Boat Parade floated by this past Saturday evening.  This is one of Bermuda's best loved parades, taking place every second December, when the boats are decorated and sail through the harbor in glowing Christmas splendor.  The boat parade is a really neat concept, with people lining up along front street to get a good view of the harbour and the boats as they go by.  There are also some great lookouts available across from town along Harbour Road...or if you happen to have a boat that isn't entered you can anchor in the thick of it and take in the show.  The weather was gorgeous, a perfect night for a parade on the water.

The past 2 winners of the Christmas Boat parade were a Star Wars theme and a Michael Jackson theme.  So as you can imagine, the boats are not decorated solely along the Christmas theme.  There are prize categories for Best Overall, Best for type of boat, for type of sponsor, and many other categories including Best Community Message, Most Fun to Be Aboard, Best Music, Best Crew Costumes, and...Most Confusing Entry.  That last bit explains a lot, like for example why in 2009 one boat proudly paraded by with a Happy Valentines Banner glowing in the night.

It is generally presumed that it is the most fun to be on board one of the floats, but it is definitely easier to see everything from a stationary spot.  My confession for this blog is that I was unable to attend the boat parade due to a prior commitment -- Christmas dinner with "The Scots at Ascots," a seasonal gathering with some very good friends, most but not all are Scottish, all are wonderful friends, and so I let the boat parade slide to spend an enjoyable evening with great food and better company in a seasonal celebration with lots of Scottish accents.  See this link if you don't know what that sounds like (yes it's the elevator skit). http://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?a=tRhnNS5bIa7EUwKQ-gCcOg&u=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DMNuFcIRlwdc%26feature%3Dshare

However, I could not let the boat parade pass without commentary, so will introduce the blog guest photographer, Mr., er, well, the fabulous travelling Phil Gee, who consented to my thieving of his photos from his facebook page, no doubt while having a pint on his NYC vacation.  Despite living in Bermuda for over a decade, the last place one should ever look for Phil is on the island.  Anyway, in addition to having a rather astounding camera lens, Phil also has a pretty good eye so hope that you enjoy his pictures of the 2013 Boat Parade (I assure you they are better than mine would have been).

The fireworks finale over the boat parade with Hamilton in the background

A Bermuda Pink Bus

My personal favorite -- a business idea for cage diving...but i see "Jaws"

And the winner for best overall at the Christmas parade!

So the winning entry is a casino theme reminiscent of Las Vegas.  To those not versed in the boat parade, a Christmas theme has not won any of the Christmas boat parades that I have seen.  The story behind this boat is that gambling is illegal in Bermuda.  When cruise ships come to Bermuda -- they must close their casino's while docked in Bermuda or in her waters -- even the insulated passengers cannot gamble while on Bermuda's turf.  The idea of opening up gambling as a tourist attractant has long been a contentious issue in Bermuda, strongly opposed by many community orientated groups and churches, as well as many politicians.  Yet, the Corporation of Hamilton has leased its waterfront property for 212 or so years to a developer with a large casino included in the plans -- to be fair the government is challenging the authority of the city and a legal dispute for control of the waterfront is underway as I type.  But the topic of declining tourism and economy keeps bringing the issue to the forefront, and a government has announced that a referendum on the issue will be announced.  Yes, I did mean to say they announced that it would be announced, because that's how politics goes down here.  We will see where that leads, but whether it was for support of the idea, just the flashy lights, or appreciation of the social commentary through boat art, the floating casino won the prize for 2013.  A sign of things to come I suspect.  Thanks again P. Gee for the shots!

So it looks like I missed a good show, although I was part of another decent one down at Ascots.  Thanks to Angelo and the staff for a great meal, and keeping us well looked after until the wee wee hours of the morning.  I wouldn't have missed throwing on the sparkle dress to consort with my kilted and tartan clad friends for all the glitzy boats in the world.  I wanted to upload a few phone snapshots, but it appears as there are some winter winds rolling in -- nothing severe, but enough to knock out all the cable channels at the present, and since my internet is through the cable provider my ability to upload anything more than text is also gone.  Nope, cannot publish either, this may have to wait til tomorrow.  Thanks for a nice last Christmas Dinner with Scots guys :)