Maritime in San Diego

     Pack a lunch and plan on spending most of the day.  This is such a fun location, even for the kids.

     We take along Pirates of the Caribbean movies on the trips and make an attempt to watch just prior to heading to the ships.  This is just a fun way to get in the mood and enjoy the day more than ever.  After all, we are on our way to freely explore these old ships, including the ones formerly occupied by for real pirates.  With teen age girls, I think they had hopes of meeting a Johnny Depp look alike.  Alas, that never happened but we had fun trying.

The currents ships docked in this downtown San Diego area are
     The Star of India                             SD Harbor Pilot Boat
     San Salvador                                     Californian
     HMS Surprise                                   America
     Steam Ferry Berkeley                       Steam Yacht Medea
     B-39 Submarine                                 USS Dolphin Submarine

 and of course, right next to this collection of fun ships is the USS Midway aircraft carrier.

  Pricing for spending the day with the 'spirits' that remain on the old ships and enjoying the history on the more 'proper' ships, is very reasonable.  Especially since you can literally spend a majority of the day wondering.  Visit all the museum's historic ships, exhibits, and the San Salvador build-site Village at Spanish Landing for ONE low price.

Adults - $15.00

Senior (62 yrs +) and Military(w/ID) - $12.00

Students (17 yrs to 13 yrs) - $12.00

Children (12 yrs to 6 yrs) - $8.00

Children (5 and under) Free 

The USS Midway is priced separately -  

General Admission
$18 adults
$15 seniors (62+)
$15 students (with valid ID)
$10 retired military (with valid ID)
$10 youth (ages 6-17)
Online Price
$17 adults
$14 seniors (62+)
$14 students (with valid ID)
$9 retired military (with valid ID)
$9 youth (ages 6-17)

     There is a lot of freedom on the ships.   There are displays and exhibits; lots of hands on fun.  And yes - it is all about the fun when doing the Grandma vacation.

Like I said - it is a hands on sort of experience.

     Here's how the budget for the day worked out.  The girls were not interesting in going on the air craft carrier so we only had the purchase of Maritime Museum tickets.  Since we spent almost 5 hours there, it worked out just fine. We got discount coupons from the San Diegan Coupons site - for $3 off each ticket.  (currently the discount is $2 each, so keep checking because the discounts change on a regular basis).  Another site to keep an eye on is San Diego Coupons; there are lots of great bargains there also.  For one adult and 3 teens we spent $39.  The parking was free and right across the street; very convenient.  We took an ice chest with snacks and drinks so no food purchases while we were there. 

     At the end of our ship adventure, we hit the road and headed once again for the beach.  8 miles and 15 minutes later we are at Mission Beach Boardwalk.  The parking is free, we have our ice chest with food and drinks, the beach is free - our total day is still costing us less than $40; that is $10 per person.

Not too bad for a great vacation day.