Re: Someone Talk me into or out of this - San Diego with boat
San Diego, so much to see and do. And only 2 weeks to do it!
Let's start close to where you're staying (Mission Blvd). Runs up and down the narrow strip of land between Mission Bay and the Pacific. Mostly bars, dives and hangouts up and down that, but less of a rowdy "college" crowd in Mission Beach than in Pacific Beach to the north.
Map 1:
Red circled "X" is Dana Landing launch ramp (google map directions to 1900 Dana Landing Rd); nice ramp, this is where you'd put in for Mission Bay. Except for a small area for water skiing (somewhere around the orange oval), ALL of Mission Bay is no-wake (under 5mph). Purple arrow shows the way to the ocean from Mission Bay. That channel is fairly narrow and fairly shallow, so if there's a lot of wind and swell that can get hairy, especially when crowded; speaking of which, avoid using that channel between 11am and 3pm, as it will be packed like sardines with sailboats. Seaworld is right beside Mission Bay Park, so if you boat along that you can see it from the water, you can even watch the dolphin shows from your boat.
BTW, grocery stores, some decent eateries, and the place to gas your boat (to avoid marina prices) is up on Grand Avenue, between the ocean and the intersection with Ingraham St.
Mission Beach (on the ocean at Mission Bay Park) is nice, but can get crowded. Bay Park (blue arrow) is a real nice place for young kids, lots of playground and cookout area, also a good breeze makes this a place where the stunt kite guys show their stuff; the water there is terrible though, very fetid and doesn't flush well. If you've got young kids who want to get in the water but the ocean waves are too much, Crown Point beach (green arrow) is good and tends to be far less crowded than the ocean beaches, it is sheltered but the water gets a decent flushing out. Another spot for the (older) kids is Belmont Park (blue circle); nice old 20's vintage roller coaster and other rides, minigolf and arcade, surfing simulator, all kind$ of $tuff for the adventurou$.
All of Mission Bay is encircled by wide, well-marked bike lanes and paths, and is a very good place to bicycle.
Map 2:
If you want to put in San Diego Bay, google map directions to "Shelter Island" or Shoreline Park". VERY nice, 8-wide ramp here with docks, plenty of parking.
Orange arrow is the way down the bay. You'll pass Coronado NAS, the embarcadero/waterfront area (green oval), the Ballpark, downtown, the Coronado Bridge. Further south are the naval bases, some industry. South of where the arrow ends is all no-wake (almost the entire rest of the bay is WOT), and can get VERY shallow if you don't stick to the marked channels. ONLY 2 reasons to go way down there that time of year: 1) There is a pod of green sea turtles that lives way down there, 2) Bonefish (yes, bonefish as in from Florida) run down there that time of year.
Embarcadero (green oval) is mostly a tourist trap, but there are some things worth seeing there, like the Midway Museum (carrier full of vintage warplanes you can board and tour), some other boats ships/yachts you can tour. Ballpark is just south of the convention center near East Village, if you want to catch a ballgame. I've also circled Balboa Park (blue), great place to walk around, some good museums there, and of course the San Diego Zoo.
Red arrow leads to the ocean. If you want to go to the Coronados Islands, they're about 15 miles south of the SD Bay inlet, about 7 miles offshore of Mexico:
Map 3:
You can easily see them from the Bay, no problems navigating there. As someone said, you'd need temporary Mexico license to fish there.
Fishing that time of year in the bays will be primarily spotted bass, maybe some sand bass. Into the ocean, and kelp you'll get into some bigger sand bass and some calico bass, maybe white sea bass. There's bigger and more varied stuff at the Coronados, but frankly May/June is too late for the Spring halibut run, and too early for any yellowtail or tuna runs. You'd probably be better off sticking to the kelp beds (1-2 miles off Point Loma, just west of the mouth of SD Bay) for your fishing jollies.
... OK, I know from your post that you already knew that:redface:... Just thought it sounded good
