1/27/07 Sunshine, Pirates and Beads

We got up early today to get a good start on our drive to Tampa. We heard the crowd would be HUGE so we wanted to get there early to insure a parking spot.

Today we joined over 400,000 others to celebrate GASPARILLA!

This whole thing is centered around José Gaspar, known by his nickname Gasparilla, who supposedly lived from 1756 to 1821 and was a Spanish Pirate, the "last of the Bucaneers." He is claimed to have raided the west coast of Florida during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Though he is a popular figure in Florida folklore, no evidence of his existence appears in writing before the early 20th century. His legend is celebrated every year in Tampa with the Gasparilla Pirate Festival.

We got to the ball field where we were parking and were quite surprised to find many cars already there. It wasn't long before we boarded buses to take us to downtown Tampa.

Once we reached the area we started walking down Bayshore Blvd, the street where the parade would take place later in the day. As we were walking around getting our bearings we found our way to a bridge that goes over the harbor area. We found that there was a rather large crowd that tied their all boats together for their party area. These boaters took great pleasure in throwing beads to those on top of the bridge where we were standing.

It wasn't long before Bob was hungry and went in search of food. You can imagine how expensive food and BEER was at this event.

We made our way back to the bridge thinking that would be a good place to watch the pirate ship arrive. We were soon asked to move on by Tampa's finest because we didn't have tickets. Tickets? What tickets? Where do you get the tickets? It seems as though to be on the bridge and on the harbor side of Bayshore Blvd. you paid for a ticket and in return received a rather large ticket encased in plastic attached to a lanyard worn around the neck. Having one of these also gave you the privilege of having a seat in the bleachers during the parade. So in search of tickets we went. It took us awhile to find someone who had them but we willingly forked over fifty dollars to get them. Are we ever glad we did.

We made our way down to the harbor area. Here's an "early" picture of the harbor traffic.

Take note of that blue sky!

Most of the boaters took great pride in decorating their boats and themselves.

By day's end all the beads this crew is holding will be thrown to those standing dockside.

Watercraft ranged from yachts

to the smallest of dinghy's

It seems like all those in the boats wanted to "outdo" the others with their decorations.....

This is one of our favorites.

It wasn't long before water traffic increased

There was something to see no matter where you looked.....

On land....

on sea......

and in the air.....

The time had come that those on the "right" side of the street had been waiting for. Arrival time for the pirate ship. We heard it before we actually got to see it, the pirates were shooting off the cannons! The 165 foot Jose Gasparilla made its way into the harbor. We could hardly see it at first because of all the smoke from the cannons.

Then we finally got a good view of this majestic ship.



Look at the boat traffic!

Take note of the pirates known as the "Krewe" in the bird's nest.

We think the best part of the "show" was at the end of pirate ship's arrival and all the boats trying leave at one time! You never saw so many near misses! : )

It didn't help matters any that just at the time all the smaller boats tried to leave a tour boat came in to dock. Take note of the all the smaller craft in the background then use your imagination for the confusion that ensued.

This is a scheduled tour boat that came in right in the middle of it all!

Now it was time for us to find our place on the parade route. All ticket holders were assigned a set of bleachers. The parade was to start at one o'clock but we never got to see the first participants until 2:30. It took that long for them to get to our part of the parade route. It was worth the wait. Here are some shots of the parade.

Patiently waiting....

and still waiting.....

and some passed the time reading....

This pirate kept watch for the first parade float....

We watched the parade particpants come.....

and go.......

Some of the floats were something to see!

All the hands you see in the air on both sides of the street aren't waving hello. All these parade watchers are all yelling, "I want beads!, I want beads!" That had certainly become the cry of the day.

Some people really went all out in dressing for the occaision.

Here's a picture of one parade participant who seemed much more interested in her beer than the activitities around her! Take note of that beer bottle, you can bet your bottom dollar they'll be up for auction on EBAY tomorrow!

Budweiser made these aluminum bottles with Budweiser on one side and Gasparilla 07 on the other.

After hours of watching the parade the end had finally come. Here's everyone gathering up all the beads that didn't make it to the sidelines.

I was surprised to find out that Bob has a real talent for catching beads!

It finally came time for us to call it a day. We couldn't bear the weight of any more beads and we had to be back at the bus no later than eight. See the line in the picture below? We were at the end of the line at one point and this is the line that leads to the spot where you get on the bus. We waited two and a half hours just to get on that bus!

WHAT A GREAT DAY!