Christmas Flotillas 



By Jeannie Faris Norris Photos by Scott D. Taylor 



" ^^✓'^ecking out" takes on a new meaning when holiday flotillas take to the water. 



Boats of all sizes, festooned in colored lights, parade along waterfronts from Elizabeth 

 City to Wilmington and beyond. Captains and crews go to great lengths to create elaborate 

 scenes in the rigging or on scaffolding that invisibly supports the lights when darkness falls. 



Year after year, they parade. 



"It's definitely festive. It's riotously festive," says Janis Williams, marketing coordinator 

 for the Carteret County Tourism Development Bureau. Last year, the Crystal Coast Christ- 

 mas Flotilla, which travels from Morehead City to Beaufort, drew 5,000 onlookers, she says. 



Some of the entries in flotillas are elegant — thousands of lights shimmer up the rigging 

 of graceful sailboats. Others are comical — a lighted pair of dolphins rise and fall ahead of a 

 small motorboat as though pulling it over waves. Tropical themes appear yearly as fluores- 

 cent palm trees sway in an imaginary breeze. Nativity scenes are created aboard some 

 sportfishing boats. Lighted Christmas trees dance on others. Many blare Christmas carols, 

 and crews almost always dress the part. 



"It's so much fun for the crews aboard the boats, and there is a lot of interaction between 

 the crews and the people who come for the parade," Williams says. 



Many communities plan activities before or after the flotillas, which usually start at dusk 

 or later. The following flotillas are scheduled this year, but other cities and towns have 

 parades as well. Topsail Island: Nov. 27 Swansboro: Nov. 28 Wrightsville Beach: 

 Nov. 28 Jacksonville: Dec. 5 Morehead City & Beaufort: Dec. 5 New Bern: Dec. 5 



Marine Corps Air Station: Dec. 6. For details, call the local chamber of commerce or 

 city hall. 



As many as 30 boats join the flotilla that files from Morehead City to Beaufort. 



16 HOLIDAY 



