Cruise of Lights

If you are looking for a little Christmas spirit this is the place. Lights, Music, Action. Nothing nicer than an evening ride through the Harbour to view all the homes dressed in their Holiday splendor.

This is a signature annual fundraising by the nonprofit Huntington Harbour Philharmonic that benefit all the OC school kids through Philharmonic Society's Music Education Programs.  

That being said, there is no fancy manshy, just good old volunteer work by hundreds of men and women who make this event happen - since 1962.  There is also music provided for the passengers waiting to board the boat, by the local school's music program that have received funding from this fundraiser.  It's wonderful to see the students who actually benefit from this.

Parking is off site at the Huntington Harbour Mall, then takes everybody on a 2-minute shuttle bus ride to a boat dock, owned by the Huntington Harbour Yacht Club.  I could see why no parking allowed at boat dock location - limited parking for the yacht club members, and parking lot is actually needed for buses (shuttles and charter buses) to turn around after dropping off/pick up passengers.  There is no way hundreds of people can park here.  The evening I went, there must have been several hundreds of people who attended.

Lots of helpful people (men and women) who will help everyone to get on/off buses, on/off docks and on/off boat.  Saw several people on wheelchair and they were made sure each and every one of those individuals were safe and comfortable.

The 45-narrated tour was fun, highlighting the decorated homes that have won awards (I even read them in OC Register) - the pictures didn't do justice in the newspaper and amazing to see in person.  I also found out the narrators are also volunteers from the Philharmonic.

All in all, it is a quaint and well organized event, and best of all it is for a great cause.  I read that over the 50 years of doing these, about 3 million OC school kids have benefited from this program.

Cruise of lights is a boat that goes around huntington harbor for about 45 minutes.  My friend and I went on a Sunday at 7:30pm.

What you do is park in the back of the Huntington Harbour mall where they have tons of school buses.  They are pretty quick and get you to the boating area.  As for parking, you actually can park at the dock which next time I think I would do. [see maps].

It gets quite cold at night, so be sure to have gloves, scarf, and event a beanie.  When you are on the boat you can stand at the railing (best view) or sit in the back.  The best view according to the captain is the top deck on the right.

The narrator talks a little bit about the history and points out the lights.

Overall a cool experience to do if you are in OC.

[map]
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