A beautiful Christmas tree sparkles in their gift shop, and the elegant passenger deck of historic steam ferry Berkeley appears even more amazing than usual. The handsome wooden benches bathed with the light from art glass windows now look upon green wreaths, red ribbons, and Christmas trees large and small!
And I’m told much more holiday decoration is coming!
I know the museum’s Pilot boat is being strung with lights for the 55th annual San Diego Bay Parade of Lights, and a small Christmas tree will soon be hoisted to the top of Star of India’s mainmast!
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Enjoy a few photographs. They were taken today in San Diego a few minutes after sunset.
The western sky was fiery orange and red, making an incredible backdrop for Star of India, docked at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. The world-famous tall ship was strung with magical lights.
The sunset’s colors reflected brilliantly from the park’s watery fountain and a slice of San Diego Bay in the distance.
Truly awesome!
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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.
Norwegian tall ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl is now docked in downtown San Diego at Broadway Pier. It will be visiting our city through Sunday.
This morning, as I walked out on the pier, I noticed crew members high in the sky, preparing a huge banner that would hang like a sail from one of the ship’s yards. I sat down on a bench and watched the action! And took some photos!
Would you dare work so high above the ship’s deck, clinging like a spider to a windswept web? I don’t think I’d have the courage! Or agility!
To the crew member who waved down at me: Hello!
The public will be able to step aboard Statsraad Lehmkuhl this Saturday, November 15, 2025, between noon and 3 pm. It’s free!
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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.
A lot of stuff was going on along San Diego’s Embarcadero today, this Saturday in early November!
I enjoyed another fine walk along downtown San Diego’s waterfront. Yes, the day started off gray and overcast, but in the early afternoon the sunshine would break through a bit.
During my walk I observed a whole lot of interesting activity. I’ll post my photos in the order in which they were taken. Read the captions to understand what I was seeing.
The beautiful Colombian tall ship ARC Gloria is docked in downtown San Diego at the Broadway Pier. The public can go aboard and tour it through Sunday, November 9, 2025.Some vessels were alongside the huge cruise ship Norwegian Jade, presumably fueling it.The Cruise Ship Terminal was abuzz with activity. Two ships were in!The Nieuw Amsterdam cruise ship docked in San Diego.The usual vendors along the Embarcadero.Here’s world-famous tall ship Star of India of the Maritime Museum of San Diego.
I’m a member of the Maritime Museum of San Diego. Members get free tickets for a harbor tour on the Pilot boat. That’s what I did!
Hello Kiki, our tour guide! She’s funny, informative and awesome!
Ready for the harbor tour!And away we go. That’s San Salvador, the museum’s seaworthy Spanish galleon replica.Along the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal I spotted two ships of the National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions Fleet: the Sea Bird and the Sea Lion. They tour Baja California and Alaska.Rowing along San Diego Bay, with the convention center and a couple of superyachts in the background.The San Diego Food and Wine Festival is going on this weekend at Embarcadero Marina Park North.The Tuna Harbor Dockside Market always attracts a crowd on Saturdays.Looks like the ferry is returning from Coronado.There’s the Colombian tall ship ARC Gloria, seen from the water.As the Pilot boat returned to the museum, Californian, official tall ship of California, was departing for a Saturday sail.
After the harbor tour, I headed south along the Embarcadero’s boardwalk. Here I am approaching the USS Midway Museum…
I see the pedicabs are out today.Always many vendors near the USS Midway Museum.Some characters I spotted as I walked along the Embarcadero.Now I’m on the pier near Tuna Harbor. The Tuna Harbor Dockside Market is winding down a little after noontime.A kid was helping out on fishing boat Jonny D. Fishing families are always friendly people.Some people enjoy Fish and Chips on the pier.Looking back along the pier toward downtown San Diego.I think these umbrellas at Seaport Village are new.People were given wine glasses when they checked into the Food and Wine Festival.A balloon twister and kids near Seaport Village.
Yes, San Diego is wonderful.
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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.
The public is invited to tour the very beautiful Colombian tall ship ARC Gloria, which is presently docked in downtown San Diego at the Broadway Pier!
The large three-masted barque is used by the Colombian Navy as a cadet training ship. It’s also the flagship of the Colombian Navy and floating goodwill ambassador. It’s currently on a tour of the west coast of North America.
Through the afternoon of Sunday, November 9, 2025, during daytime hours, anyone can freely board the amazing tall ship and walk about its decks. That’s what I did this morning, camera in hand!
A friendly salute welcomed everybody stepping from the gangplank. There are plenty of awesome photo ops. Visitors, after roaming about the ship, also have the opportunity to purchase souvenirs to remember their experience.
Take a look!
The figurehead of the ARC Gloria is a gilded, winged angel named María Salud. This figurehead is a tribute to the daughter of the sculptor who created it, Victor Gutiérrez Jiménez.
Here we go!
A shining plaque beneath the ship’s crest contains the words HIMNO BUQUE ESCULEA ARC GLORIA… MUSICA Y LETRA DE EVELIA PORTO DE MEJIA.
According to this: Evelia Porto de Mejía (1925-2013), a writer and composer from Cartagena, is renowned for her contributions to music and etiquette on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. She composed the anthem for the Gloria training ship of the Colombian National Navy, as well as several musical pieces that celebrate the traditions and culture of Cartagena.
A big haul of albacore tuna was being unloaded today in San Diego’s Tuna Harbor. Huge boxes were being filled with albacore from the fishing vessel Piky, to be promptly shipped to Oregon for canning.
As their website states: This is small-batch seafood in its purest form. Every fish is sustainably caught by pole and line, one at a time, by people who know the sea and respect its rhythms. No factory fleets. No shortcuts. Just honest fish, responsibly harvested by our own hands.
Also: Our albacore is wild-caught exclusively in U.S. waters by a U.S.-flagged vessel using pole-and-line fishing, a highly selective and sustainable method that eliminates bycatch.
Very cool!
Considering all those huge boxes, that was a whole lot of fishing!
I see you can purchase the canned, high-quality albacore tuna on their website. Click here!
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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.
Two terrifying guillotines have been placed in a downtown San Diego park! I spotted them this morning at Lane Field Park as I walked along the Embarcadero!
Are heads about to roll?
Turns out these props, and others, are part of a scary event that will take place tomorrow, Halloween day. It’s called the Graveyard Festival!
There will be six stages with lots of music, DJs, dancers and costumes galore. I’m not sure how they’ll fit all that in a relatively small park. Should be interesting. I suppose I’ll have to walk by to check it out!
Yesterday I walked through Shhh Pavilion: The Hopekeeper.
What’s that?
Shhh Pavilion: The Hopekeeper is the unusual name of a very cool sculpture that rises in recently opened Progress Park. Progress Park is located in downtown San Diego near the waterfront, at the corner of Broadway and Harbor Drive.
The beautiful new park is part of the Research and Development District (RaDD) complex. The sculpture is part of the RaDD Artwalk. It was commissioned by IQHQ, through the City of San Diego Art in Private Development program.
The creator of this very unique public art is gt2P (Great things to People), a Santiago de Chile based collaborative studio collective.
This unusual sculpture is a geometric structure that utilizes something called Voronoi tessellation. The mathematical concept is nicely described on this webpage.
Until recently, the new park was surrounded by a construction fence. But yesterday I noticed the fence was down. So I had to walk under and through the sculpture with my camera!
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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.
Tourists, shoppers and those wandering through Seaport Village need to keep their head on a swivel! The tentacles of a monster octopus might suddenly grab you!
Why is this gigantic octopus assailing unsuspecting people?
Perhaps because it anticipates Halloween!
Inflatable octopi were recently placed all around Seaport Village. The tentacled terror is a central element of the upcoming Halloween celebration Bayside Boo: Spirited Night by the Bay.
The event website explains: Presented by Seaport Fudge Factory, Bayside Boo will feature spooky beats, sweet treats, and plenty of festive fun. Dance under the moonlight, enjoy the vibes by the bay, and let the ghoul times roll.
Would you like to experience Bayside Boo? Come by Seaport Village on Friday, October 31, 2025, from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm, and watch out for slimy tentacles!
Oh, dear! The overgrown octopus has emerged from San Diego Bay!
Is that flimsy fence enough to hold the rampaging sea monster?
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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.
Have you seen the enormous sailboat Persévérance docked in San Diego?
I saw the amazing boat this morning. It was a little north of the Maritime Museum of San Diego. I was told it has been in San Diego the past few days.
The Persévérance is a research vessel operated by world-renowned French explorer and polar expedition pioneer Jean-Louis Étienne.
According to a map displayed on the boat, the 2025-2026 Jean-Louis Étienne and Elsa Pény-Étienne’s Expedition has has already visited Greenland and the Arctic region via the Northwest Passage. After leaving the West Coast it will cross the Pacific Ocean and head south to study Antarctica!
The unique oceanographic schooner gathers data on climate and ocean currents, visits Marine Protected Areas, and seeks to analyze human impact on the oceans. Marine Protected Areas on the itinerary include Clipperton, French Polynesia, Ross Sea, and the proposed Dumon d’Urville MPA in East Antarctica.
I asked whether there will be public tours of this remarkable sailboat, but was told, unfortunately, no.
Cool San Diego Sights! 