San Diego Dreaming

It would be hard to find a more perfect climate than San Diego.

Low 20s every day (in the middle of winter), perfect for walking around town. Couple that with cheap off-season rates, incredibly cheap parking anywhere, and lots of things to see, and you have a recipe for happiness.

Now, for us the only thing that could make it better would be to have a lot of boats around. And again this town delivers! Yachts everywhere, sometimes almost crowded in the huge bay. we watched some sort of regatta on Sunday.

To top if off, we found some great accommodations right in the center of the action. We are staying at the Best Western Island Palms Hotel and Marina (http://www.islandpalms.com/), on Shelter island just a short distance from the customs dock. A few boats are still here from Canada which makes us feel a little more at home; although we are not sure why they are not already heading further south. The Baja Ha-ha rally left almost a month ago.

Here is the view from our room. Very nice except for the incredibly rude name on the nearest boat.

There is always a lot going on here, boats sailing around in the bay, the Navy base on Coronado Island a short distance away sending out a constant stream of big ships, helicopters and jet fighters to entertain us, and a few cruise ships and massive cargo ships trying to maneuver through it all.

While we were downtown earlier this week, we happened upon one of the Oracle boats having the main mast unstepped. Now that is a serious spar. You just don't see this type of boat very often back on Nanaimo.

So far, we have spent our time just wandering around taking in the sights. We spent today at Balboa park, visiting the Air and Space Museum. We will no doubt be back to try some of the other museums and possibly the Zoo. Maybe we will bite the bullet and high prices and actually go to Sealand as well - we are, after all, tourists.