San Diego 9/14, 9/15: Maritime Museum, Trolley

Breakfast - Thursday, September 14th
Margaret got up earlier than every one else and walked down to the Frost Me Cafe. She brought back an assortment of pastries for all. Yum! Great start to the day!

Maritime Museum of San Diego
Thursday, September 14th, Frank was a little under the weather and did not want to be walking to the Maritime Museum nor "trapped" on a trolley if not feeling well. John & Sue, Margaret, and I walked to the Maritime Museum. These are baseball players we passed in Waterfront Park along the way. I assume those mosaic giants may be the San Diego Padres? The tile colors rival the bright hues of their new uniforms.

The Maritime Museum of San Diego is situated on a series of ships connected to each other via walkways. Entrance is through the wide white ship without sails and rigging near the center of the diagram, the Steam Ferry Berkeley, which is "the first successful west-coast built and operated ferry to be driven by a screw propeller as opposed to side wheels".

On our way to board the ferry Berkeley we passed the HMS Surprise, moored off the starboard side of the Berkeley. Per https://sdmaritime.org/visit/the-ships/hms-surprise/

The ship now known as HMS Surprise began life in 1970 as a replica of the 18th century Royal Navy frigate Rose. During the next 30 years Rose sailed thousands of miles as an attraction vessel and sail training ship prior to her conversion to HMS Surprise. For the academy award winning film, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, the filmmakers made a painstaking effort to recreate a 24 gun frigate specific to Great Britain’s Nelson era Royal Navy. The result is a replica vessel unmatched in its authenticity and attention to detail.

For more details about the build of the HMS Surprise see Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Surprise_(replica_ship)#:~:text=After%20the%20film%20was%20complete,her%20role%20in%20the%20film.

Upon entering the Berkeley, I was struck by a colorful tile mural of a mermaid.

Off the port side of the ferry was the Dolphin, the deepest diving submarine in the world. Visitors could climb down the ladder and tour her insides but I was queasy at the close quarters and refrained. John & Sue went down; Margaret and I stayed aloft. Details about the submarine can be found at

https://sdmaritime.org/visit/the-ships/uss-dolphin-submarine/#:~:text=USS%20Dolphin%20%2D%20Maritime%20Museum%20of%20San%20Diego

Through the starboard side windows, farther down the waterfront,  I caught a glimpse of the regal Star of India. We would board her later.

The upper deck of the Berkeley was ornately furnished with wooden carvings and stained glass windows.

From the Berkeley we went to the Medea, named after a Greek mythological figure. Medea was a princess and sorceress who helped Jason obtain the Golden Fleece. Medea, the steam yacht was originally built in 1904 for William Macalister Hall of Torrisdale Castle, Scotland. Built of steel and furnished with imported teak and quarter-sawn oak, the Medea is an impressive and beautiful little boat. Macalister Hall, a wealthy landowner and British Army officer, used Medea mainly for social occasions and hunting trips around the isles and lochs of western Scotland. Later the Medea was pressed into war service. Here are some interesting facts about the Medea.  

• Medea was constructed in a record building time of 51 days
• She was launched with steam up in her boiler
• Built with a coal-fired boiler, Medea was converted to oil in 1964
• Medea has served in two world wars, under three navies and six national flags

Enjoy viewing the luxury of her cabins. For more details of her history, see https://sdmaritime.org/visit/the-ships/steam-yacht-medea/

From the Medea we walked briefly around on the deck of the San Salvador. Then we walked on the gangways past the HMS Surprise, eager to explore the exotic, exquisite Star of Indian. 

We had underestimated the extent of the maritime museum. We shortened our perusal of the Star of India in deference to our stomachs which were hollering to be fed. We lunched at a Claim Jumper Steakhouse across North Harbor Drive from the Maritime Museum of San Diego. After eating, John & Sue would walk back to our VRBO and take Frank lunch. Margaret and I still were planning to take the Hop-on-Hop-off Trolley tour.

Hop-on-Hop-off Trolley
Since we had been on the SEAL tour on Monday, which was predominantly land, we decided to take the hop-on-hop-off trolley for more of a land perspective. John & Sue opted out of a trolly ride after the Maritime Museum since they had been to San Diego before and thought it might be repetitious for them. Margaret and I planned to stay seated and not do any "hopping" as a relaxed way to see some more sites before our departure the following day. The next map shows the Trolley as the orange line and the SEAL as the blue line. The trolley stops are labeled A through L. 

As advertised the  "fleet of orange and green trolleys travel frequently throughout San Diego and over the iconic San Diego-Coronado Bridge to Coronado on a continuous 25-mile loop visiting various neighborhoods with 12 destination stops". We got on at the Maritime Museum, Stop B, and got off at Little Italy, Stop L. We were able to get a taste of several places on the way we had not seen during the week. Although we'd had dinner in Old Town we had not experienced its colorful market (A). We'd pretty much explored stops B, C, D, E, K and L; we got a glimpse of Barrio Logan and Coronado Island, both places I would like to investigate further on our next time in San Diego. The trolley was great for viewing, but not ideal for taking photos. I supplemented some from my own camera with images off the web. My photos show the interior of the trolley and how its windows frame the view. The first photo is at our start of our tour at the Maritime Museum (B) and the second photo is as we passed by Barrio Logan (I).

A famous neighborhood in San Diego is Barrio Logan, which is an artistic, industrial area with Mexican roots. At its heart is Chicano Park, with dozens of murals depicting the community’s past activism, alongside images of notable figures like Frida Kahlo. Former warehouses on Logan Avenue now house galleries, taco shops and craft breweries, all of which are popular with students from the nearby Woodbury School of Architecture. Perhaps we can check it out on our next trip to San Diego. The next experience was a trip across the San Diego Coronado Bay Bridge. Its name and funding and length are all controversial. Should its name include "Bay"? Was its length increased to qualify for federal funding? Does its height meet Navy passage specs? Read the debates at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:San_Diego%E2%80%93Coronado_Bridge

Once on the island, the sites were impressive. But is Coronado an island or is it a peninsula since it connects to the mainland? From a geological perspective, Coronado is an island - a tied island. A tied island is an island connected to the mainland via a tombolo, and the Silver Strand is a tombolo. A tombolo is defined as "a bar connecting an island with the mainland or with another island". Silver Strand is a tombolo that was created by sediment deposits from prevailing ocean currents much as a delta forms at the mouth of a river.

There were beautiful homes dotting the island and the Hotel Coronado is a truly palatial sight.

On our return over the bridge to the mainland, the curvature could clearly be seen and then the San Diego shoreline as well. I thought the views were fantastic. Unfortunately, Margaret is afraid of heights and kept her eyes closed while we were up high.

Margaret and I got off at the Little Italy stop and walked back home. Our dinner was leftovers accumulated from during our stay. That evening we played Iota. Sue won. We also finished The Beach Hut 1000 piece puzzle. It was our last night together. We knew we had to!

Departures - Friday September 15th
We had all had a great week and we planned to do it again in another city some time next year. Now was the time to part company. Margaret had the earliest flight and so she was the first to leave via Uber to the airport.

John & Sue had a later flight. Since they wanted to walk to the airport for the scenic view, they had to leave early enough to allow themselves time for the walk. Plus they could make progress on fulfilling their dedication to those 10,000 steps! Frank and I left the VRBO when they did, even though our flight was later than theirs and we took an Uber to the airport. 

Frank and I just chilled those couple extra hours at the airport. Unfortunately I was stuck with a book I did not like (9/20/23/post)  and so the time dragged. Frank pointed out to me that I had my iPad so perhaps I could find and switch to a Kindle book. Great idea. I did and was a much happier camper, even finishing the book once we were home. Our flight was only delayed by about a half hour, which is "on time" in airplane-speak.  We were both extremely tired but happy when we were finally home.