Polynesian Voyaging Society’s historic voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa arrived in San Diego yesterday!
Hōkūleʻa is making its final port call during a long Pacific Ocean journey down the West Coast. For the next few days, you will be able to see the amazing ocean-going canoe docked at the Maritime Museum of San Diego!
Visitors to the Maritime Museum can tour the massive canoe on Friday, November 10, and Monday, November 13. See the sign that I photographed for the hours.
Click here to learn more about Hōkūle‘a. She was designed by artist and historian Herb Kawainui Kāne, one of the founders of the Polynesian Voyaging Society. The canoe was named Hōkūle‘a (“Star of Gladness”), a zenith star of Hawai‘i, which appeared to him growing ever brighter in a dream. This launching was one of many events that marked a generation of renewal for Hawai‘i’s indigenous people.
Does this voyaging canoe seem familiar? Five years ago, Hikianalia, the sister canoe of Hōkūle‘a, also visited the the Maritime Museum of San Diego. I blogged about that special weekend here.
When I walked past the canoe, crew members were washing down the deck getting everything ready for tomorrow’s visitors. Then I spotted them taking a group photo!
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M5, the world’s largest single-masted yacht, is presently docked at the 5th Avenue Landing superyacht marina behind the San Diego Convention Center.
M5 stands out from the other nearby superyachts. Its mast is so incredibly high, M5 cannot pass under any bridge that she can navigate to! That includes the San Diego-Coronado Bridge!
Read about the amazing yacht, which periodically visits San Diego, here.
This evening as the sun began to set, my walk along the south Embarcadero took me past M5. So I captured these photographs…
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During this weekend, San Diego’s big annual Pacific Islander Festival was held at Ski Beach in Mission Bay.
Thousands turned out to celebrate the traditional cultures of the indigenous peoples of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. It’s the largest, most attended Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander festival in the United States!
As you can see from my photos, a huge audience sitting on the grass enjoyed San Diego’s warm sunshine and lots of traditional island dances, costumes and music. There was a fantastic selection of food, vendors everywhere, and, most interesting to me, an assortment of booths boosting tourism with fascinating cultural displays.
All those islands–all their culture–all that vibrant life– There was so much to absorb during my visit!
Did you miss this amazing, free, family-friendly event? I hope these photographs inspire you to go next year…
Does the above watercraft appear familiar? It’s a model of the ocean-going outrigger canoe Sakman.
Perhaps you recall seeing Sakman years ago during its stay in San Diego. See a couple of photos here.
I learned a documentary film is being produced titled Sakman: The Legend of The Flying Canoe. It follows the creation of the Sakman Che’lu, a 50ft. vessel built by a group of retirees in San Diego, CA. Despite being first-time builders and sailors, they courageously recreate this magnificent canoe, 6,000 miles away from their island home. Check out the film’s website here!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!
Inside the central Pavilion of Flight at the San Diego Air and Space Museum you’ll find a gigantic airplane with a bottom that resembles the hull of a boat. This impressive amphibious airplane is a PBY-5A Catalina, one of the many PBY Catalinas that were built in San Diego by Consolidated Aircraft around the time of World War II.
During my last visit to the museum, I walked around and under the huge aircraft and found a nearby plaque that describes the history of this particular plane.
The PBY was the most successful flying boat ever designed, and it was in continuous production for over ten years. It was built in larger numbers that all other flying boats combined, and the majority of these planes were produced in San Diego… Early on the morning of August 8, 1988, the PBY was towed through the San Diego streets to Balboa Park…
Check out the impressive size of this famous flying boat and the span of its broad wings! Taking off from the broken ocean surface, where the attainable speed can be limited, requires a lot of lift!
Most of the PBY Catalinas were built at Consolidated Aircraft near Lindbergh Field, just a short distance from San Diego Bay where the flying boats were tested. Are there any old timers out there who recall seeing these flying boats out on the bay?
Here’s a Wikimedia Commons public domain image of a PBY-5AG in San Diego from 1948:
Also from Wikimedia Commons, here’s the PBY-5 production line at Consolidated Aircraft in San Diego from 1942:
A unique trailer towed by bicycle is now on display near the front counter of the San Diego Central Library. It’s called Migration Home 1 (MH-1).
According to its description, this tiny “mobile home” that doubles as a rowboat was crafted with repurposed materials, and designed with a mixture of realism and idealism.
The artist, Aaron Glasson, seems to envision a bleak future where humans can’t rely on technological progress to solve problems, but must live a more primitive existence.
Can a vehicle such as this carry an idealist toward utopia?
The statement concludes: By believing in the value of solution-based thinking, artmaking, and utopian idealism we can help guide the future in a more positive direction.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
An inspirational event is coming up this Sunday, May 21st!
TEAM Survivor San Diego is a dynamic, positive group of women who are cancer survivors. They have a dragon boat team called the Sea Dragons. In the past I’ve seen the team racing out on Mission Bay.
I’ve learned the TEAM Survivor San Diego Sea Dragons will be celebrating their 15th anniversary by paddling a marathon circumnavigation of the entire Mission Bay! People are invited to come on out Sunday to cheer them on!
The epic paddle will begin and finish at the youth aquatic facility on Fiesta Island with seven stops along the way. The event starts at 8:00 a.m. and finishes around 4:00 p.m.
If you’re curious to learn more about this great event or would like to support women cancer survivors, check out the Sea Dragons’ Facebook page by clicking here!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Our nation’s oldest active pilot boat is back in action on San Diego Bay!
Pilot belongs to the Maritime Museum of San Diego and provides harbor tours. For about half a year Pilot has been out of service. Until several days ago.
Its engine has been completely replaced. Newly painted, the historically important boat is again providing tours!
Like all members of the museum, I get a couple of free tickets for the Pilot every year. I took advantage of the opportunity today!
This might be my favorite harbor tour. Not only is the pilot boat a lot of fun to ride on a sunny day, but Kiki, the usual tour guide, is the best! She’s super knowledgeable and funny and quickly has everyone smiling.
Read about Pilot and its history by clicking here. You’ll learn how it was launched in 1914 and was in regular service, helping large ships to safely enter and leave San Diego Bay, until 1996.
History buffs will be interested to learn that Pilot was built at a location not far from the present museum. It was also used by the military during World War II to serve as a patrol boat.
I took a few photos during our pleasant tour of the bay…
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Back in 2020, I posted photos of a long two-sided mural depicting sea life. The artwork was painted many years ago inside a pedestrian tunnel that passes under California State Route 75 at Silver Strand State Beach.
Today I went down to the Silver Strand for a walk and I noticed a new mural had been painted in 2021 at the west end of the same tunnel!
The mural presents images of boats, beach, ocean and birds. Both sides of the tunnel entrance were painted by Imperial Beach artist Esmeralda Robles.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Two tours in one! That’s what it felt like today when I explored San Diego’s harbor on a SEAL Tours boat with wheels!
It was my very first time experiencing one of these unique tours.
Passengers boarded the amphibious SEAL vehicle at Seaport Village and started down Harbor Drive along San Diego’s beautiful Embarcadero. We passed the airport and Spanish Landing and entered Point Loma. All the while, our tour guide (the boat’s first mate), provided a fun and spirited narration. My love of San Diego was renewed once again.
At the Shelter Island boat ramp we seamlessly entered San Diego Bay and headed out across the sparkling water!
Of course there were amazing views of downtown San Diego across the gentle water. And, of course, we had to swing by the bait dock near the entrance to the bay where sea lions entertained kids with their antics.
We saw several Navy facilities and were surprised to learn how super high-tech robot ships are autonomously interdicting drug smugglers. We also saw where the Navy trains sea lions and dolphins to detect underwater objects. And we saw the R/P FLIP, a very long, very strange Scripps research vessel that plunges 90 degrees into the ocean to become a sort of floating tower! There was so much cool stuff to see, I couldn’t begin to describe it all.
The tour was a lot of fun. Our guide, Bret, was a ham and everyone was always smiling and laughing. Personally, I learned quite a lot about my city that I hadn’t known before.
Are you a San Diego resident? This month–January–Old Town Trolley Tours is offering locals free rides. That includes the SEAL Tours, which they operate!
If you do partake of this harbor experience, make sure to bring a jacket. The wind out on the bay can be quite chilly!
Here’s a tiny taste of the experience…
Both the captain and first mate were really nice. As we got started visual aids helped to explain the coming attractions.Two huge cruise ships were docked on the Embarcadero today.Passing the beautiful, historic Star of India, world’s oldest active sailing ship.We’ve arrived at Shelter Island, where we saw many boats moored in America’s Cup Harbor.About to enter San Diego Bay! How cool is this?The transition to water is so smooth you hardly notice it.Another perfect San Diego day.Hello!The bait dock had everyone taking a million photos. Those sea lions are digesting their breakfast.How cute!A bunch of cormorants were hanging out on this section.A view of downtown San Diego skyscrapers over the large naval air base on Coronado’s North Island.That narrow ship on the right operates autonomously. If it detects a drug runner out on the Pacific Ocean, the Coast Guard is notified.Here’s where sea lions are trained by the U.S. Navy. We learned they are actually a bit more intelligent than dolphins.Here comes another SEAL Tour! That’s Harbor Island behind it.Back to land! Before heading again down city streets, our captain checked for seaweed caught in the wheels!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
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Look at all the activity today at Tuna Harbor Dockside Market!
Every Saturday morning, local fishermen bring their fresh catches to the pier between Seaport Village and Tuna Harbor, and lovers of seafood line up to buy fish and crabs and sea urchins and other edibles found in the ocean off San Diego.
I walked out on the pier this morning, marveling at how this outdoor fish market has grown. Can you believe it? Eight years have already passed since Tuna Harbor Dockside Market’s grand opening.
Anyone into photography would love strolling through this market with camera in hand.
There’s the whirl of life all around: diverse people from every walk of life rubbing elbows; families at tables devouring fish and chips; the picturesque commercial fishing boats; the human ebb and flow of commerce; circling gulls; playful sea lions barking down in the bay (I observed none today); and all those different species of fish, some of which can appear quite strange…
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
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