December 19, 2010- Scuba Santa and the Parade of Lights!

     If the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony is considered the event that kicks off the holiday season on the island, Scuba Santa and the Boat Parade of Lights brings us to the height of the celebrations here.  Tonight, we watched, as we’ve done many a year before this, a live Christmas tree float to the surface of the lagoon surrounded by the mysterious glow of green and yellow lights and divers’ bubbles as Scuba Santa emerged at Emon Beach. Once on sand, Santa hands out the glow sticks from the tree and candy, of course! There’s not much to it, and it’s usually a fairly small affair with mostly families attending, but tonight it was paired up with the Boat Parade of Lights, and the beach was packed with chairs, plastic tables, coolers, kids running up and down the sand and general merriment as we all waited for the sun to sink into the rapidly darkening water.  As Santa headed off to his next appointment, the police boat, all decked out with red and green holiday lights floated by in front of us. Next, the kids were all yelling about seeing the “Eiffel Tower” of lights on the first sail boat cruising past with color decorating every mast and surface of the vessel.  There were one or two other boats, similarly arrayed as the first two, and again, for me, it was simply one more year of participation in an island holiday tradition. Who knows...maybe it will be my last, but after living here almost 14 years, I never say never.  Happy Holidays!