Sean & Pamela's Very Merry SD April 21 2005 Roadtrip!

ALOHA!

one of our stops along the way! (as featured in TIKI ROADTRIP and the new "TIKI Magazine" Quarterly)
Sean & Pamela's Very Merry San Diego Day Trip! =)
21 April 2005



Bamboo 2-U & Tikis too!
More Views from the Road..

beautiful streetlamp sculpture.. birds in flight copper & steel

seaport navy ships in the distance

we're here! Let's check out the San Diego Maritime Museum..

one of the 30 'urban trees 2' installations at the Pier

San Diego Seaport Museum gangplank entrance

The San Diego Maritime Museum hosts two "TALL SHIPS". One of the most famous is the "HMS SURPRISE", which was used in the blockbuster film "MASTER & COMMANDER" staring among others, Russell Crowe. The ship has many wonderful exhibits including many props and photos fromt the filming aboard the ship. Just in case one might not be aware of its role in the film, there is a HUGE BANNER hanging from the side of the gangplank and a large cardboard standee promoting the fllm. =)

Aboard the "HMS Surprise"

The main home of the museum is the ferryboat Berkeley, which once criss-crossed San Francisco Bay.


	moored alongside are the Medea & Californian
back inside the Berkeley
		we had lunch at Anthony's Fish Grotto

Soviet Foxtrot Class Submarine B-39 (Cobra)
The Maritime Museum now has a Soviet submarine. It was delivered to the museum on the day of our visit, so we got a special treat.

News Article on the sub's arrival

After lunch we headed back over to the Maritime Museum to tour it's centerpiece, the Star of India. Over its lifetime, this ship had plied the seven seas as an Emmigrant ship, a lumber ship and finally a Salmon fishing boat. While part of the salmon industry, the Star of India sailed alongside San Francisco's Balclutha (then called the Star of Alaska) as both were owned by the Alaskan Packers Association. The Star of India's ports of call included harbors in England, Australia, New Zeland, Hawaii, California, and Alaska. The ship is currently houses a museum exhibit on the age of sail and is used an educational tool for many school groups that visit (in fact, some staffers were preparing for an overnight stay by some school kids while we were touring the ship). In addition, the Star of India occasionally is taken out on short excursions on San Diego Bay.

Aboard the "Star of India"

After touring the Star of India, we returned to the Berkeley to examine the on-board museum exhibits. These include exhibits on the history of commercial fishing in California, steam power in ships, the discovery of San Diego by Juan Cabrillo, and the US Navy in San Diego. During our visit, the museum was hosting a temporary exhibit entitled "When California was an Island" (no Whoopi Goldberg here folks, just maps).

A fishing boat's shrine & Jaun Cabrillo's marker
When California was an Island

TIKI TIKI!

"After we finished touring the Maritime Museum, we headed out to Shelter Island where we did more advanced scouting.. but this time for upcoming possible TIKI ROADTRIP hunting.. more from Sean about that.. but we learned that the 3 TIKI-esque locations are NOT bars.. (ok.. not true.. some are bars.. but not what we were led to believe..)

-BALI HAI is the first place we went, and the best. The gift shop wasn't open and we weren't wanting dinner so we sat at the bar where Sean had a MAI TAI and I had one of the signature drinks -- the MR. BALI HAI (the menu says it comes with a souvenir mug, but it does not).. we took TONS of pix and shared a PU PU platter of wonton nachos, pork ribs (6), crabcakes (2) and shrimp(2) and a springroll (1) it's halved.. so this was a great dinner for us.. Sean ate the 2 crabcakes and shirmp and the one halved springroll and we had 3ea pork ribs.. and split the nachos.. good stuff. They don't have any souvenir anything as far as tiki glasses or mugs.. They DO NOT do that anymore.. although it's on the menu.

-HUMPHREY's HALF MOON INN is a WONDERFUL polynesian Hotel.. very lovely and TIKI.. well worth walking around.. The Restaurant and Bar (called HUMPHREY'S BY THE BAY is very upscale (ie: expensive) and does NOT have a single thing tiki.. the guy there said there's live music every night and a cover charge.. This Saturday is a popular Motown style band.. It looked very 80s.. Despite the band sounding neat, it's not someplace I would go back unless we were with friends.. it was VERY loud and there is NOTHING.. nothing TIKI inside that place.

-TRADER MORT's was a really cool LIQUOR STORE. They had a great selection of wine I guess... for a liquor store, stinky beer selection, and upstairs they had more wine & their sake selection.. If you want liquor, go to BEVMO or TJ's or something.. don't go here.. but if you want to see some neat TIKI stuff go upstairs and look around a little.. they have a few neat things.. Sean got us a 1 litre bottle of diet pepsi to drink on the way 'home.' "