San Pedro lighted boat parade 2012

I do not know what my ADD brain was thinking when I mentioned in yesterdays post that I would live stream the parade if I could get internet on the dock, because I suddenly did not grow 2 extra arms to be able to do that and take pictures at the same time. Of course  I opted for the latter.  It was off to a bit of a rough start as my unpredictable cannon does not always cooperate and give me what I am looking for, but I think I made out ok for boat parade pictures in the end.

I met up with Cowboy, Leisa, Pete and his wife at Caprice before the parade started to enjoy a cocktail. Then headed out to the dock with Lara our judge wrangler and the other judges Mary, Dorian, Gerry to watch the action.  Unfortunately the boats seemed to think the people sitting at the picnic at the next dock were the judges and did their drive by’s close to them.

We still got to enjoy a close enough view of the boats passing by and hearing the crew cheering and singing. This year many of the boats outdid themselves for decorating and put on a fantastic lighted boat parade, I have to say hands down I fell in love with the Jelly Fish boat and I know I am not the only one. I heard it took a week to decorate and I am not surprised, they did a fantastic job as you will see below.

After the judging was over, we headed to the park for a bit to check out the booths and see some entertainment at the awards ceremony. Luckily we ran into Zac and he gave us a ride home in Darth Vader. We stopped for a visit at Pedro’s on our way, saw Cindy, Andy Forrest, Pedro and a few minutes of the big fight.

Night photography tips: Experiment with different settings, I find night time does not always works best. If you are taking pictures of moving objects like boats at night try your sport setting.

Here are my best shots my best shot to capture the boat parade for you, definitely a good event to put on your Belize travel calendar.

Riding the bus in Belize City