If your bathtub is the ocean...

Then you need a really big rubber duck.  The world's largest rubber duck sailed into the Port of Los Angeles this morning.  Created by a Dutch artist, he's the mascot and one of the main attractions of the Tall Ships Festival that kicked off this afternoon in San Pedro.  Although I was watching out for him this morning, I missed his early arrival and he was kept in hiding until noon, when I saw him heading out toward the Angel's Gate lighthouse to meet the incoming tall ships and lead their parade into the harbor.  I have no idea how you hide a bright yellow rubber duck 6 stories tall, 110 feet long, and 85 feet wide but festival organizers managed to keep him out of the view of my binoculars, as well as out of sight of harbor visitors.

The duck appeared, heading toward Angel's Gate, just before noon (PDT)

The duck turns to lead the tall ships assembled just outside the harbor's gate

We counted 6 tall ships in the harbor this afternoon - a total of 12 are scheduled to participate in the festival

Two of the tall ships are shown here moving through the canal beyond the duck

The most visible of the tall ships had red sails, visible just behind the duck in this photo

The pictures shown above were taken from our backyard, about 2 miles from the harbor, using my point and click camera.  The duck and the ships were easier to view using binoculars then through my camera's view-finder but, without the bright yellow duck to orient me, I'm not sure if I could have pinpointed the tall ships as they progressed through the harbor.

The Tall Ships Festival in Los Angeles continues through Sunday.


All material © 2012-2014 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party