This is the bow of the pirate ship Jose Gasparilla that invades our city each year carrying hundreds of blood-thirsty, swashbuckling pirates of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla. The ship spends most of its year quietly docked in the channel on Bayshore Boulevard across from Tampa General Hospital and the Tampa Convention Center. But it will silently diappear come winter and reappear in February to carry its invading Krewe as they take over the city of Tampa and parade through the streets. If you read my post at Tampa Florida Photo about the Bead Barn, I mentioned that each year this citywide invasion draws hundreds of thousands of spectators and probably millions of beads are thrown and collected around everyone’s neck. It's a fun celebration that we look forward to each year.
