Christmas Spirit

The San Diego Bay Parade of Lights was last night (and next Sunday night, too). The parade was pretty low key this time around, probably due to what happened last year. We rowed out to the end of the mooring field and hooked on to an empty ball to enjoy the show. We were joined by Markitos and Christy toward the end of the parade. As always, it's difficult to get nighttime pictures from a floating dinghy. Here are a few of the better shots.

Hurry Up and Wait

It's that time of year when the boat parade comes to San Diego Bay. Last Sunday, Ben, Lola and I rowed out to the end of the mooring field with Markitos, Adam & Jasmine, and Justin & Anna to watch the parade of lights.  I didn't bring my camera this year since I got a bunch of pictures last year.  Last week's parade was pretty uneventful, but Ben, Lola & I rowed out again last night to check out Round 2. 

The parade seemed to get a late start and we were waiting a while before we started seeing boats.  The delayed start was the result of an accident in which a Coast Guard boat responding to an emergency call careened into a boat full of parade watchers and ended up killing an 8-year old boy and injuring 5 others.  You can read the article here.  Not a very cheery way to kick off the holiday. 

The thing that most perplexes me is why the Coast Guard boat was speeding to respond to a grounded boat... a boat that wasn't going anywhere fast... on a night when there were most likely record numbers of boats out watching the parade.  It's upsetting to think that the very people who are supposed to protect us are often times the people we need protection from.  I realize accidents happen, but this one just seems so senseless.  My heart goes out to the family of the boy.  I can't imagine the pain they must be feeling.

San Diego Christmas Parade of Lights

Here are some pics from the Christmas Parade of Lights. Ben, Lola and I dinghied out to edge of our mooring field with some of our neighbor-friends to catch an unobstructed view of the parade. The pictures are a little blurry because we were floating on the water and it was nearly impossible to hold my camera still! (The parade also included powerboats but they came out a lot blurrier than the sailboats... maybe because they were going faster or causing a bigger wake... so I didn't bother to include any of those shots.)