Pirate Santa riding a bicycle down Main Street in Huntington Beach is shown in the picture above.

Santa rides a bicycle with a skull on the handlebars in Huntington Beach. The rider, a long-time skull & bones pirate kind of guy often used to sit down at the beach and soak up the rays with his pirate shirts, hats, shorts and flag that attached to the chair or was stationed in the sand.

Notice Santa's fur-trimmed boots, his fur-capped skull, red plaid shirt, green woolen scarf, red suspenders, white gloves, spectacles, full beard and red Santa hat. How cool is that!

Because the beaches offers such mild winter weather in California, you'll see so many types of Santas that you'll think it's Christmas all year long. Many wear shades, Hawaiian shirts and carry a volleyball and beach chair. The Santa Cruz surfing Santa rides into Capitola pier on a surfboard each year. Traditions abound that bring a bit of the island spirit and Aloha ways to California.

At one of the biggest and oldest Christmas boat parades on the West Coast in Newport Beach, you'll usually see a yacht or ship with Santa riding the bow, waving and broadcasting over a microphone, "Mele Kalikimaka" or Merry Christmas. Appropriately, Newport Beach has a series of islands in its harbor, and Hawaiians actually like to visit these mainland island and stay in rental homes during the holidays for a change from their very own island lifestyle.

Santa...there are so many Santas to see in California that we sometimes wonder if kids get confused by all the helpers. In Huntington Beach, there's usually a Santa making an appearance along Main Street one Saturday or Sunday in December. In addition, you'll find Santa over at the Bella Terra Mall. And if that doesn't knock your Christmas stockings off, you can line up a Santa visit through the City of Huntington Beach Community Services department's Candy Cane Capers annual Santa home visit program which you pay a fee to participate in if you are a local resident of HB.

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