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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Anyone walking the length of San Diego’s Embarcadero might have observed three very unusual sights today!
First, starting at the south end of the Embarcadero, very close to the Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel, an immense NASSCO drydock has appeared!
This floating drydock, the NASSCO Builder, is usually stationed down at the NASSCO shipyard well south of here, in the vicinity of the Coronado Bay Bridge. It’s capable of containing very large ships. The public typically can’t get a close view of its immensity.
Today the NASSCO Builder was docked strangely at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal, where the Dole banana boats usually unload! Someone with the Coronado Ferry said the gigantic drydock appeared there yesterday.
The next photo was taken from Embarcadero Marina Park South…
Nearby, at the Hilton, some wise words…
Next, I noticed some guys were repairing a purse seiner net on the pier adjacent to Seaport Village. This is seldom seen. More often, these large nets are repaired across Tuna Harbor at the longer G Street Pier.
These nets are unspooled into the ocean from purse seiners in order to catch bait fish, which are in turn used for sportfishing.
Finally, I noticed that America’s Tall Ship, the United States Coast Guard training ship USCGC Eagle, has returned to San Diego! It was out on the ocean the last few days, with future Coast Guard officers aboard, transforming themselves from young “swabs” to cadets!
I went aboard the amazing Eagle last weekend and took these photos!
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Some fine art can be enjoyed by those visiting Liberty Station in Point Loma. Eight artists who work out of studios at Liberty Station are exhibiting canvases that celebrate San Diego and our local fishing industry.
Most of the displayed pieces can be purchased. They’re all quite good, too.
The Summer Solstice Exhibit can be found in the lobby of the Dick Laub NTC Command Center building and runs May to July 2025.
While you’re at Liberty Station, just roam around. There’s so much to see and do!
(While wandering about today, I discovered a little-seen mosaic from Liberty Station’s history as Naval Training Center San Diego. I’ll blog about that next!)
A few more pieces in the Summer Solstice Exhibit…
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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.
An exhibit about the history of fishing in San Diego opens today at the Maritime Museum of San Diego.
Harvesting the Ocean expands upon pre-existing displays in the museum. The new exhibit follows the rise and fall of our city’s commercial fishing industry, and celebrates contributions by native people, immigrants and resilient fishing families to that rich history.
In addition to informative signs containing historical photographs, the exhibit includes artifacts used by fishermen who’ve harvested the ocean over the years.
I enjoyed an early look at the exhibit. If you’re interested in this very important aspect of San Diego history, you need to experience it, too.
The opening of this exhibit corresponds with the launch of a new seafood cookbook created by over a hundred contributors from the San Diego community. San Diego Seafood: Then & Now is available at the Maritime Museum’s gift shop. It contains over 75 recipes and includes essays, stories and photographs that bring our city’s extensive and diverse fishing history to life.
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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 big event is being held this coming Saturday, June 14, 2025 in San Diego!
Celebrated chefs and local fishermen will greet the public at Tuna Harbor Dockside Market as an amazing new cookbook is launched that celebrates seafood and fishing history in San Diego!
San Diego Seafood: Then & Now contains over 75 excellent recipes, and includes the contributions of over a hundred people from the San Diego community, such as historians and fishing boat captains.
The book is curated by California Sea Grant, a unique partnership that unites the resources of the federal government, the State of California and universities across the state to create knowledge, products and services that benefit the economy, the environment and the citizens of California.
In addition to recipes, the cookbook contains many great photographs, stories and essays concerning the rich history of fishing in San Diego. Those who’ve contributed to our fishing history include the Kumeyaay, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Italians and Mexicans. Many immigrants settled in San Diego because of our long-time status as tuna fishing capital of the world. You’ve heard of Little Italy, right?
As the Amazon page concerning the book explains: San Diego Seafood: Then & Now blends local history and cuisine to celebrate the region’s rich maritime heritage and culinary diversity. More than a cookbook, this volume features colorful stories from past and present, stunning visuals, and helpful tips on buying, storing and preparing seafood, in addition to over 75 recipes that showcase local catch– from widely-known favorites, like tuna and halibut, to lesser-known treasures, like black cod and spiny lobster...
At Tuna Harbor Dockside Market next Saturday, there will be book signings and a meet and greet. The public can rub elbows with book project participants, working fishermen and renowned chefs. And there will be seafood tastings!
If you’ve never been to Tuna Harbor Dockside Market, it’s where fishermen sell freshly caught seafood directly to the public and restaurants. It’s open Saturdays from 8 am to 1 pm or sold out. Look for the many canopies on the pier just north of Seaport Village, next to Tuna Harbor.
Even if you have no interest in buying freshly caught fish, crabs or sea urchins, Tuna Harbor Dockside Market is a bustling and fascinating place to experience. (I’ve blogged about it many times over the years, including the day of its grand opening!) There are usually sea lions playing and barking nearby. You can watch fishermen at work on their boats. And you can also buy and eat fish and chips on the pier!
Some past photos…
Here are some friendly folks from California Sea Grant that I once met…
If you want to be part of the San Diego Seafood: Then & Now book launch celebration next Saturday, and perhaps purchase a signed copy, look for the first canopy on the pier!
A plaque honoring San Diego’s underwater pioneers is embedded in a boulder a short distance west of La Jolla Cove. It was placed above Boomer Beach next to Ellen Browning Scripps Park last year.
People walking beside the ocean on the scenic boardwalk might see the bronze plaque near a bench.
The plaque reads:
Since 1933, offshore from this beach access, the seafloor bears memorial markers to name and honor San Diego’s most heralded underwater pioneers. The San Diego Bottom Scratchers Dive Club.
The Bottom Scratchers dedicated every dive to preventing the waste of sea life and to helping others appreciate the wonders of the sea. All who enter here fall under oath to do the same.
Plaque donated by San Diego Freedivers.
Here’s a great article about the Bottom Scratchers Dive Club, which began almost a century ago. It explains: The name “Scratchers” came from the members’ habit of scouring the ocean bottom for food… The Bottom Scratchers either invented or were the first to use the basic freediving spearfishing gear still employed today… Soon club members became local legends… Everything the explorers experienced was new…
There are some great old photographs in the article, too.
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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 X.
The Sportfishing Legacy monument can be found steps from the docks at Fisherman’s Landing in Point Loma. If you’ve ever gone on an ocean fishing charter in San Diego, you might have departed from here and seen the remarkable bronze sculpture of a man.
I saw the monument for the first time last month during the Day at the Docks event. I’m finally getting around to sharing these photographs.
A plaque states:
SPORTFISHING LEGACY
DEDICATED TO CAPTAIN BILL POOLE AND ALL THE DEVOTED CAPTAINS WHO HAVE MADE SAN DIEGO HOME PORT TO THE WORLD’S FINEST SPORTFISHING FLEET.
THE PIONEER OF LONG RANGE SPORTFISHING, CAPTAIN POOLE EXPLORED THE OCEAN FOR THE FISHING GROUNDS AND ESTABLISHED INNOVATIVE FISHING TECHNIQUES. AS AN ENTREPRENEUR, HE INSPIRED NUMEROUS SUPPORT BUSINESSES INCLUDING LANDINGS, FUEL DOCKS, AND A BOAT YARD, WHERE HE BUILT MANY OF THE NEWEST HIGH TECH SPORTFISHING BOATS.
THIS MONUMENT SERVES AS A TRIBUTE TO ALL WHO HAVE ENJOYED THE MAGICAL MOMENTS THAT HAVE OCCURRED ON THESE DOCKS AND AT SEA. THE FLEET CONTINUES TO ENSURE THAT SAN DIEGO IS THE PREMIER DESTINATION FOR SPORT FISHERMEN THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.
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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 X.
It seems everybody in San Diego who loves fishing showed up today for Day at the Docks!
The big annual event, which takes place at San Diego’s sportfishing landings in Point Loma, attracts those who have an interest in the world-class saltwater fishing that can be experienced off our coast.
This morning I saw a big crowd at Day at the Docks, including many kids. Every sort of organization and business with a tie to sportfishing was on hand. There were how-to-talks, a kids fishing adventure, a casting tournament, a knot tying competition, harbor boat rides, a sportfishing fleet open house, gear for sale, clubs to join, unique gifts, art, fresh seafood…
I was interested to see many charitable organizations. Please read my photo captions.
It had been years since I’ve headed down to Day at the Docks. I’m glad I went!
Reel Stoke Adaptive Sportfishing is a new program of Oceanside-based non-profit Stoke For Life Foundation. The program’s purpose is to expose novice or seasoned adaptive anglers and people with disabilities to southern California sport fishing up close and personal. Don’t let any obstacle stand in the way of your dreams!Catalyst Cares does many things. They organize community cleanups, provide assistance to veterans and those who have a criminal record, and disaster relief.Mission Fish organizes and plans fishing day trips and provides FISH therapy for PTSD and TBI for Veterans, Active duty service members, 1st responders and Gold Star families.Southern California Deaf Anglers Club (SCDAC) was founded in 1973. Its main purpose is to promote and educate deaf and hard of hearing people in fishing. That’s awesome!HUBBS-SeaWorld Research Institute was on hand. They are a non-profit scientific research organization committed to conserving and renewing marine life, which includes working to maintain healthy white seabass populations.
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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.
In 1940, a year after publishing his masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck went on a scientific expedition to the Sea of Cortez with marine biologist Ed Ricketts. The 4000 mile, six week journey, made famous in Steinbeck’s books Sea of Cortez and The Log from the Sea of Cortez, utilized the Monterey fishing boat Western Flyer, a 77-foot purse seiner that had been used in the sardine fishery.
On their way to Baja California, Steinbeck, Ricketts and the small crew of the Western Flyer visited San Diego. Eighty five years later, the storied fishing boat returned!
Yesterday the Western Flyer was docked at the Maritime Museum of San Diego and museum visitors had the opportunity to tour her!
I was one of many who stepped aboard the historic vessel that is called the most famous fishing boat in the world. I took photographs, of course!
The first thing we were shown was the head! Yes, what you see in the next photograph is where John Steinbeck himself sat! During the Sea of Cortez expedition, he developed the idea for his future novels Cannery Row and The Pearl. Perhaps he did some brainstorming here…
We then went forward to the pilot house…
All the instruments are modern–the Western Flyer during its long complex history sank and was submerged for six months. The boat was restored to look and feel as it did originally. Ninety percent of the hull and ten percent of the wheelhouse was replaced.
When we turned around, we discovered a small room with a single bed. This is where Steinbeck’s wife, Carol, slept. Even though she was part of the marine specimen collecting expedition, she was never mentioned in Steinbeck’s books concerning it.
We then proceeded down through the deckhouse past more equipment and bunks and entered the galley. The Western Flyer Foundation takes students out on educational trips, performing ocean research. The young people are privileged to gather around a table where Steinbeck and his friends sat…
At the table, I was shown a remarkable shot glass. It retains marking from barnacles that attached to it while the boat was submerged. The shot glass is dated from the 1930s. It’s quite likely that John Steinbeck drank from it!
Back out on the boat’s weather deck, we descended into what originally had been the vessel’s fish hold. It was converted for the Sea of Cortez expedition into a laboratory, where small marine specimens–urchins, crabs, chitons, snails, clams, starfish and more, gathered mostly from the intertidal zone–were preserved using formaldehyde and other chemicals. Steinbeck and Ricketts discovered that the old fish hold was so damp that it quickly corroded much of their equipment.
Historical photographs of Western Flyer, and from the Sea of Cortez expedition, cover the large table for our tour. You can see in the next photo some of the modern research equipment used by ocean-going college students today…
This is how Western Flyer looked before its 7 million dollar restoration by Port Townsend Shipwrights Co-Op…
The image of the Baby Flyer is one of only two known photographs showing Steinbeck and Ricketts together. John Steinbeck is in the striped shirt, and Ed Ricketts is sitting next to him…
We then proceeded through the crowded engine room. You can learn about the Western Flyer’s original Atlas-Imperial diesel engine here. Today’s diesel/electric engine is quite useful for scientific research, allowing the boat to maneuver silently. I took no photographs of it–sorry.
We then peeked into the boat’s forepeak, where there are more bunks. John Steinbeck and the Western Flyer’s engineer Tex slept here and certainly held many interesting conversations.
Up some steep steps and we’re back out on the main deck. That is HMS Surprise of the Maritime Museum of San Diego straight ahead, and their iconic Star of India–oldest active sailing ship in the world–to the right.
The Western Flyer Foundation had hats, shirts and stickers available for purchase. They are a nonprofit and would appreciate your donation!
Some more looks…
After departing the Maritime Museum of San Diego, the restored Western Flyer heads south to Ensenada, Mexico. They’re embarking on a recreation of the historic Sea of Cortez expedition. Instead of collecting marine specimens, however, they will be making new friends and educating the curious.
Follow the Western Flyer’s journey online! Experience it all virtually on the Western Flyer Foundation’s Facebook page here, and their Instagram page 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.
Many beautiful flowers are now gathered near the base of the Tunaman’s Memorial on San Diego’s Shelter Island.
Last weekend, the annual Tunaman’s Memorial Mass and Celebration began at St. Agnes Catholic Church in Point Loma. A procession was then made through Roseville to the Shelter Island memorial where a service was held.
The many flowers remember tuna fishermen, particularly of Portuguese descent, who were lost at sea.
Even yesterday, almost a week later, the flowers were still bright and colorful.
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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.
Cool San Diego Sights! 