This past Saturday was not fit for man or beast to be out on T-Wharf in Rockport but plenty of small children and Santa himself braved the cold raw wind to light the Rockport Christmas tree in Dock Square.
With Capt. Bill Lee at the wheel, the Ocean Reporter sweeps past T Wharf. A large contingent of children (not shown, I was freezing and my camera as you can see was getting pelted in the rain) were screaming “IT’S SANTA!!”
Harbormasters Scott Story and Rosemary Lesh expertly coax some kayakers (are they nuts? It’s freezing!) out of the way so the Ocean Reporter can pull up to Motif #1.
Santa gingerly disembarks. The crowd is hiding from the wind behind the Fudgery.
Santa asks if everyone has been nice. There were no naughty children out in this weather.
Two Rockport police officers keep a wary eye on me while I chase down Santa to make sure he got my list. Yes, and he had checked it twice this time.
Santa buckling up to the Rockport Fire Truck for a ride back to his sleigh.
After Santa was gone there were still cookies and hot chocolate in Dock Square before everyone got back to Christmas shopping on Bearskin Neck. This GMG cub reporter quickly found a hot toddy.
Good Morning Gloucester 
Quite an impressive turnout. Nice reporting Paul!
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Just checked Isle of Shoals for wind speed on December 5 at the time of Santa landing.
27 mph sustained winds out of the NNE with gusts to 32 mph. With the rain and dropping temps, yes, it was a good turnout of the very nice and nary a naughty.
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I love your way with the English language, Paul. You are a wordmeister!
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Excellent pictures Paul.
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I wish you had a shot of the Christmas tree. It is soooooo beautiful.
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Good idea. Tomorrow night I’ll get a night shot of the tree along with all those little Christmas trees lit on Main Street.
But first I need to get the salt spray and hot cocoa off my lens.
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