Saturday was a 12 hour day for me since I crewed for one of the Auxiliary vessels that participated in the annual Gasparilla Boat Parade. That is me on the right- in the new jacket with the stiff shoulders that makes me look like a football player.

In this annual re-enactment of Tampa’s historic pirate invasion, the Gasparilla Flotilla – led by the Jose Gasparilla teeming from bow to stern and capstan to crow’s nest with swashbuckling YMKG pirates – creates a spectacular sight as she heads up Seddon Channel towards downtown Tampa. When the Jose Gasparilla docks at the Tampa Convention Center (at 1 p.m.), the Mayor surrenders the Key to the City of Tampa into the hands of the Captain of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla. The pirates then celebrate their victory with a parade of over 100 floats that begins at the Tampa Convention Center and ends in historic downtown Ybor City.

This year's parade was fairly tame compared to previous years. The weather predictions were far worse than what we actually experienced. Any other parade would likely have been canceled and rescheduled, but this parade takes a year to plan and Law Enforcement agencies from over twenty Florida counties and three states are called in to assist with crowd control both on the water and along the parade route. The Gasparilla Festival is BIG and has three separate parades. The Children's Extravaganza (parade) is held a week before the Invasion. They hold a separate parade that excludes sights unfit for minors- like bare chested women vying for beads from the pirates etc., a fairly common occurrence during the Invasion parade. In all, Gasparilla events begin mid January and go on until mid March. I believe the final event is the Gasparilla Arts Festival. I have never participated in that. The entry fees have always been exorbitant compared to other art festivals. At any rate, I enjoyed the pirate invasion this year.