San Diego

colbysmith

colbysmith

Active member
I've never had a boat out in the San Diego area, and just wondering if I ever had the opportunity to spend some time around San Diego, would it be worthwhile to drag the boat out there. What cruising is available? Launch ramps with rig parking for 2-3 weeks? Recommended marinas? Thanks for any information or details. Colby
 
There is a brand new municipal ramp in shelter Island with ample parking, Plenty to do and see on the bay and on the waterfront, Cruising to Catalina is also popular. I am sure others will fill you in on much more.
Best wishes to all for the New Year!
Alain
 
Thanks Alain. Happy New Year to you and the Misses as well! While I'd love to go out and cruise the islands, I suspect my wife will not be open to cruising across the open water to get there. So I think for now I'm looking more for cruising along the shoreline, bays and harbors. (Eventually, I'd love to join the Catalina Gathering!) Colby
 
We go there every year. I always stay at the dana on mission bay. The whole coast is great all the way to Point Loma and then into the harbor makes a nice cruise all around the bridge and the aircraft carrier/museeum. Fishing is also outstanding. if you go north of mission bay, La jolla is B EUTIFUL equally. There is a nice public ramp between the dana and sea world, and another passed sea world.
 
Colby, my wife and I have planned cruising outings in San Diego on several occasions but each time we’ve had a glitch that prevented us from going. In doing the planning I narrowed in on 2 possible launch sites. One was Chula Vista Marina in the South Bay, and the other was just up from there and adjacent to the Pier 32 Marina in National City. Both marinas advised us against leaving the vehicle and trailer nearby the launch ramp for any meaningful length of time because of possible vandalism. If we planned to cruise off season the great folks at Chula Vista Marina said I could probably unhitch the trailer and store it in the side of their marina parking lot. I have a long extended tongue trailer though so it was questionable whether or not it would fit. As for Pier 32, it was possible they could provide temporary storage as well. While both marinas are well south in the bay, that did not cause us any concern since we love slow cruising when there are interesting sights to see, such as the number of large docked naval vessels. One other location you might consider is Oceanside. It’s about 40 minutes north of San Diego by car but then you could cruise down to Mission Bay and San Diego. At some point we will make it down there to cruise so I look forward to reading other posts with suggestions.

Rob
 
Trailer parking is a problem in San Diego. Here is what we've found.

Shelter Island Boat Ramp. Trailer parking for 3 days. No dock next to launch site, dock after you're in water.

Coronado/Glorietta Bay Launch Ramp. Daylight parking only. Dock where you can launch.

National City/Pepper Park Launch Ramp. Daylight parking only. Dock launch.

Chula Vista Boat Launch: Daylight parking only. Dock launch. If you're staying at the Chula Vista Marina (nice place,) they will store your trailer for a fee. We paid ~$45/day, boat+trailer, truck was free.

Shelter Island Harbor Patrol Dock. Cheapest place to keep your boat, though we haven't been there in years.

Southwest Yacht Club. Best place to stay if your yacht club has reciprocals with them. Ours does.

Mission Bay South Shores Boat Launch. I think it's three days limit on parking. Dock launch.

Mission Bay Dana Landing. I think it's daylight parking only. No dock launch.

Note that we like to launch where we can walk the boat off and on the trailer.

Also San Diego has limited anchoring area. I believe you can anchor next to Southwest Yacht Club on weekends. Also at Glorietta Bay for 72 hrs, if you make a reservation.

Oceanside. You can store your truck/trailer in the parking lot on the other side of the RR, free. Dock launch. No anchoring

My experience, yours may vary.

Boris
 
Back
Top