Glorietta Bay, San Diego Harbor (anchor)

To get from Mission Bay to San Diego Bay you have to go about a mile out into the ocean to skirt the biggest kelp forest I have ever seen. It seems very popular for fisherman though as dodging the endless crab pot floats, (some the size of beer bottles and painted black!) made it a tough trip to relax on. I had to motor a portion of this passage as there was no wind (again) and you don't want to snag a crab pot float as getting a 100ft of poly line melted and knotted around the prop would be a miserable job to repair.

Huge kelp forest over a mile offshore. Pt Loma in the distance.

Finally some wind picked up as I rounded Point Loma (View Map) and I managed kill the engine and casually drift into the bay under sail power.

Pt Loma, the southern most point in the US

San Diego Bay is also home to the US Navy. Warships, submarines, helicopters and lots of restricted areas. This little aircraft carrier was docked off the city front. It made me wonder why so much of our money and resources are tied up in protecting ourselves from 'other' people. Of all the problems in the world, we are most scared of ourselves. I had never really thought about that until I saw this monster machine that had been purposely constructed to annihilate other humans.

Imagine this headed your way on a foggy night, its the size of a small city!

Below is a map of San Diego Bay. You can see part of Mission bay at the very top where I was anchored before (see last post). I'm now anchored at Glorietta Bay (blue dot) on the Coronado Peninsula. View Map. The Mexican border is the solid line at the bottom of the map

Map of San Diego Bay. Mexican border at the bottom.

I had only been here a few hours when some people I had met at a Newport Beach raftup came by. They invited me to yet another party on a friends boat nearby. Lots of great people and I picked up a few tips about traveling in Mexico. I slept well that nite. Certainly a fun group who like to party, probably 90% of all the alcohol I have consumed on this trip has been with that one group! I would have to toughen up my constitution if was stay around here for much longer or I'm going to fall out the dinghy soon on the way back to the boat.

Anchored opposite the golf course at Glorietta Bay.

The next day after a long lie-in, I dropped the dinghy in the water and pulled it up on the beach 100ft away on the golf course. I cycled around Coronado for a while and then had lunch at an Il Fornaio restaurant right on the waterfront overlooking the downtown San Diego. That meal was the most I had spent on one dinner since I left San Francisco. It was ok (I had the lasagna), but I have really been enjoying making my own food lately and the whole restaurant thing just hasn't been so appealing as of late and now seems to be a waste of money, I think its mainly because I have the time to make my own food, just as I like it. Before, when I've been in a rush, a restaurant has been convenient as it will get you something decent without much effort. I bet my view will change when Ive been out in the wilderness for a few months!

View from Coronado Island overlooking downtown San Diego

I went for a few bike rides around Coronado island and spent some time looking around the Coronado hotel. I had stopped here years back for lunch with the family on a car trip around California. If you ever visit San Diego, this is the place to stay.

The Hotel Del Coronado

I even got the bike fixed. Both wheels had been taco'd when I got run over at Dana Point and Ive been looking around for some 20" alloy wheels. The rear wheel was unusual as it had a 6 speed block and most 20" wheels are single speed on BMX bikes. Anyway I found a bike shop in downtown Coronado and they had both wheels in stock for less than I could order them online. They even let me use their workshop to swap out the axles and the gears onto the new wheels. I hadn't had a chance to do bike work like that since I was about 14! The 'new' bike is going better than ever.

That weekend I was scheduled to move the boat up to another anchorage in San Diego Bay at La Playa. It is close to the police docks where you do your immigration paperwork on your return to the US and they have slips you can rent for up to 10 days. I'm hoping to get to use those so I can leave the boat somewhere secure and fly home next week.

The wind was very favorable and I was able to sail the whole way out of Glorietta bay and up the San Diego harbor. I was busy tacking back and forth up the channel and apparently I got too close for comfort for a Navy warship coming down the channel.

Navy Warship 104

I was over 1/4 mile of his bow when I was directly ahead of him but the next thing I hear on the VHF 16 is ..
"This is Navy Warship 104, Navy Warship 104 calling sailing vessel Sea 42"
Oh crap! I looked back and took the picture above and realized maybe I had left it a little too close.
I responded on the radio and we switched to channel 12. Some small gray Navy support boats were buzzing around the warship and one was headed towards me. What have I got myself into now? They probably think I'm a terrorist and my boat is loaded with bombs.
The Navy radio operator was polite but firm. He wanted a larger perimeter around his ship and I was to stay away. I apologized and confirmed his request. I looked back and the support boats had turned away. That was a little too much excitement for one day.