San Diego

Day 23 – Wednesday continued

We did finally arrive at San Diego Airport but no luggage. Luckily there was one person there to help although if he was in our situation he would hope that the person helping him was a little less abrupt - not a good start to San Diego. 

He took our details and we became a little worried when he asked for our Sydney addresses.

Luggage arrived at 2am thank heavens.

Hotel in a good position a few blocks walk from the district of Little Italy

Little Italy by night

and the trolley, the transport system that made life easy to access all attractions around San Diego.

Day 24 – Thursday

Caught the trolley to Gaslamp District, a trendy area with lots of restaurants etc. had a quick look around, very quiet in the day, area much better at night.

From there decided to catch ferry across to Coronardo Island just a short ride from the Convention Area of San Diego.

Asked a very helpful local what to do and he suggested take the bus to the other side of the island and see one of the ten best beaches in America and a famous and grand hotel called Hotel del Coronardo.

A corona at the bar overlooking the beach - very hot day

Grand hotel on the island

Hot sunny day at the beach so we had to have a beer at the Babock and Story Bar right on the beach. If this is one of the best 10 beaches in America I think they need to come Downunder and check ours out to see what a top 10 beach should look like but lovely area all the same.

Quick look around hotel and area then back to Little Italy for some dinner at authentic Italian at the back of a deli.

Day 25 – Friday

Another trip on the trolley – good and cheap form of transport as you buy a pass for as many days as needed. We purchased a 3-day pass for $12 which gives you unlimited travel on the trolleys and buses that connect at certain stations.

A trolley to Old Town Station and then a number 7 bus took us to SeaWorld. You guessed it we did the tourist SeaWorld day and it was really a lot of fun.

A map details all attractions and the times of all the shows. First stop was the Dolphins at Blue Horizons.

A trainer shaking hands/flipper to one of the dolphins

We took so many pics of these beautiful creatures

Hi there!- this was right in front of us

In some of the shows there is what they call the soak zone- it is normally the first 12 to 20 rows in the mini stadiums and it is where you have a more than 50% chance of getting wet. And of course we had to sit in that spot but luckily I still had the red plastic poncho that was given to us in New Orleans when on the bus tour in the rain. It was great to keep cameras dry and we only got a little wet – lucky as the guy next to us was soaked just like the sign indicated.

This is why they call it the soak zone - they train the dolphins to use their tails to splash the crowd.

The dolphins and trainers were fantastic, quite unbelievable in fact. There were dolphins, pilot whales, aerialists and a variety of birds. I don’t think we have anything like this polished performance at home.

Waving goodbye

The red poncho that saved us from walking around soaked all day.

Lots of things to see – smelly penguins, sharks, beautiful graceful turtles, pink flamingos, sea lions, seals and much more- all animals very well cared for in very suitable environments.

Giant turtles above and pink flamingos below. Behind the flamingos is a small section of the Mantra Ride.

Another fantastic show was the One Ocean Shamu Show – the killer whales. And of course we had to sit in the soak zone again – much more fun as you watch the whales come towards you and you’re thinking how wet will we be soon. What these whales did was amazing.

Shamu and partner

The whales delivered a bigger splash

Above and below some more tricks. Again so many pics were taken.

We visited the Wild Arctic with the polar bears, giant walruses and arctic seals. They even had a Cirque du Soleil performance entitled Cirque de la Mer.

There were a few rides that had to be ridden such as The Manta – a giant roller coaster and The Journey to Atlantis – another roller coaster type ride with a twist it has water involved thus the name – Atlantis. While waiting I said to Mez the one thing we don’t want is to be seated in the front as those people are getting off the ride soaked and of course you guessed it that’s where we were and yes we were soaked.  

Mez soaked at end of Atlantis ride - if you look closely in the background you can see people coming down the first section of the ride.

Great day but it wasn’t over yet.

On the way back in the bus the driver asked us where we were from – I think we have tattoos on our foreheads that says foreigner or it could be the attire(tourist sandals) or the accent. Well he proceeded to tell us all the places to go and see and not to go back to hotel before visiting Old Town.

Old Town is a functioning replica of days gone by with old time stores and very authentic restaurants. We had dinner at a Mexican Restaurant with the musicians and the women making hand made tortillas in the front.

A 12 hour day – exhausting.

Day 26 – Saturday

Set out to be cultured and spend the day in Balboa Park. Massive area in the city that is home to museums, exhibitions, lots of Hispanic Architecture, the oldest and biggest outdoor organ in the world and lots of parkland. Not what you would expect when the term park comes to mind. Caught the tram like bus around as the park covers an area of 5 square kilometres. You could spend a day here but I think we were plum tuckered out from yesterdays adventure and not really in the mood for too much culture.

On the tourist guy’s recommendation headed to another district called Hillcrest – loads of good restaurants and very different bars. Spent the afternoon people watching and just relaxing.
So much to do in San Diego you need more time.

One of the many museums in Balboa Park