“The Parade is coming, the Parade is coming!”
.
The Holidays are upon us in South Florida and just in time for the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Holiday Boat Parade. This is THE boat parade to see and it’s always a real special treat to be a part of it!
“Kayak Ted” and “Kayak Whitney” of the South Florida Kayaking meetup group once again organized a paddle of the parade that has become an annual South Florida kayaking tradition!
This year eight of us led the parade as part of the “pre-show” along with SuP paddlers, a Venetian style Gondola boat and the Broward College “Sea Ark”.
Starting just after sunset ahead of the main parade, our “eight is enough” kayak flotilla cheered thousands along Ft Lauderdale’s waterfront!
.
Continuing on my sombrero and alien theme of late, for this year I brought out the whole family! I lit them all up with LED lights strands. However I still don’t have any documents on them and thus took great care driving on the Autobahn!
CLICK pic for last year’s (2014) parade.
.
Resistance .. is Futile!
You WILL be assimilated into the Holidays!
.
Inside Santa’s busy kayak decorating workshop for the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Holiday Boat Parade!
.
Local kayaker Erika F. next to her boat draped in white with reindeer in waiting.
.
Santa provided the South Florida Kayaking Meetup paddlers with a set of EL (Electroluminescent Light) wire lights for each of the eight kayaks. These actually run on AC power by design, and use a very small transformer/inverter fed by a pack of AA batteries sealed inside a dry box. The output current is quite weak, but strong enough to give a small jolt!
.
Dry box holding the electronics and batteries for the matching EL wire lights on all of the kayaks.
.
Lisa D. and Shanna and Erika in Santa’s kayak decorating workshop.
.
The paddlers are ready, the boats are ready, and the reindeer are ready to ride!
.
The Elves are also ready for the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Holiday Boat Parade.
.
Winter paddling in Ft Lauderdale, Florida!
.
Lisa, Shanna and Whitney happy in their kayaks at Cooley’s Landing in downtown FLL.
.
Cooley’s Landing provides a great place to regroup before the start of the parade.
Note that the ramps are very slippery with algae if you ever decide to launch from here!
.
Santa Sombrero and my very best spray skirt for the Parade!
.
For this year I made some additions and improvements to my Alien theme. I decided to bring out the whole Alien family and light them up with LED string lights. My giant Sombrero also received a “Santa Sombrero” LED makeover.
My efforts were rewarded when I was called out during the parade as “Mr Sombrero Man” by Nick Cannon, the 2015 Winterfest Boat Parade Grand Marshal! 🙂
.
They are here – “Welcome to Fort Lauderdale”.
.
Erika F. spies an Alien family at Cooley’s Landing.
.
The sombrero and the Aliens, always fun at first glance. Both are instantly recognizable cultural symbols that in combination with the boat and lights can add up to whatever interpretation you wanna make of it. I’m just putting it out there in the spirit of inclusive unity for the Holidays!
Judging by all the waves, cheers and smiles, the combination was generally well received in Ft Lauderdale. I beg your indulgence, allow me use of the term Órale!
😉
It’s all here!
The boat, the palm, the Alien family and the Santa Sombrero.
“I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas”! 🙂
.
My happy Elf, the reindeer jockey hitches a ride on Rudolph.
.
The Alien family riding out of the sunset at the 2015 Winterfest Boat Parade.
.
Panorama on the New River in downtown Ft Lauderdale at the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Holiday Boat Parade.
.
Am I an Elf or just a kayaker?
Om, sweet Ohm!
.
Paddling past all the decorated parade boats along the New River in Ft Lauderdale.
.
029 is my favorite number and this is the Limo Boat!
.
Kayaker Geoff P. paddling down the New River.
.
The U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program has been helping kids to a Happy Christmas since 1947!
.
Kayak Ted and his awesome palm tree.
.
Sombrero, aliens, boat and lights can add up to whatever you wanna make of it.
I’m putting it out there in the spirit of unity for the Holidays! 🙂
.
Spectator’s-eye-view of me and my Alien family at the 2015 Winterfest Parade!
.
Five little reindeer watching the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Holiday Boat Parade.
.
Taking things up a notch over the Winterfest Boat Parade..
.
Watching the Winterfest Boat Parade with the South Florida Kayaking Meetup crew.
.
“Fairy Tales Afloat” – the theme for the 2015 Ft Lauderdale Winterfest Boat Parade.
.
Beautiful colors and lights of the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat Parade!
.
It’s fun to bring noise making machinery such as whistles, horns, duck callers, kazoos, whatever – the louder, the better!
I had a triplet of whistles go work with while Ted had a special kazoo to entertain with.
Next year I plan to turn it up all the way to 11 ! 😉
.
The tall buildings on the south side of Sunrise Blvd are the best place to make a LOT of noise. It really bounces off the walls and the louder, the better!
.
Aside from Jingle Bells and Walking in a Winter Wonderland, and a few other Holiday classics, there’s only so much that can be done with a rescue whistle. I did try a Star Wars theme in honor of the forthcoming highly anticipated movie – The Force Awakens. I also broke into one of my personal favorites and whistled out the intro parts of DJ Icey’s old school Florida breaks hit ‘Sign’ – though few noticed, I’m quite sure.
.
The spectator viewing area at Hugh Taylor Birch St Park appeared to us as a sea of blue LED lights. That’s all we could see at one point!
.
Kayak Ted paddling towards the matching blue LED lights of the cheering Winterfest Boat Parade viewing area crowd.
.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS from the all Aliens! 🙂
.
Happy Holidays from the South Florida Kayaking Meetup crew and Kayakfari.com !
.
Back on terra firma, Kayak Whitney poses next to a few of the kayaks showing the EL lighting and my LED string lights.
.
Kayak Ted once again reprised his role as the “Hunchback of Ft Lauderdale”. 😉
.
The “other half” of my Alien family on deck!
.
Decorations of the 2015 Ft Lauderdale Winterfest Boat Parade! 🙂
.
Lastly, look deep into the eyes of the Alien!
.
A BIG thanks to Kayak Ted, Kayak Whitney, Santa and all of Ft Lauderdale for a fun and enjoyable evening out on the water.
See you next year! 🙂
.
Winterfest Boat Parade route on the New River in Ft Lauderdale – a partial map .
From Cooley’s Landing up to almost Oakland Pk Blvd, we paddled about 13 miles this year!
.
.
.
Click below for more from past Winterfest Boat Parades:
Ft Lauderdale’s Winterfest Boat Parade – Kayaking a Parade of Lights
CLICK for story!
.
.
.
Happy Holidays! Feliz Navidad!
Veselé Vánoce!
.
BLESS!
.
.
.
.
© 2015 Flex Maslan / kayakfari.com / awakenthegrass.com. All original photographs, artworks and music in this portfolio are copyrighted and owned by the artist, Flex Maslan, unless otherwise noted. Any reproduction, modification, publication, transmission, transfer, or exploitation of any of the content, for personal or commercial use, whether in whole or in part, without written permission from the artist is strictly prohibited.
All rights reserved!
…
DISCLAIMER:: The maps and images on this site are not intended for navigation, I am not a guide; use any and all information at your own risk! Your mileage may vary .. so use good judgement before venturing out!
With that said.. Blessings friends!
kayakfari ( kayak .. far .. i ) 