Ships and Seals

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We spent the day today with Noah, Tali and the kids and had a lovely time. It took a while for everyone to wake up and get organized, so in the mean time I managed to get some quite good pictures of hummingbirds in Noah's garden.

After we finally got organized and piled into the car Noah took us to Coronado Island over the Coronado bridge. Now that's a bridge! It crosses the San Diego bay, towering high above the water before dropping down to the island. Coronado Island is a high-end neighborhood of San Diego, with lots of large, expensive houses and fancy cars but not really much to do there. Still, driving over the bridge was an experience, and driving back gave us a good view of the naval shipyards and all the aircraft carriers, destroyers and other navy ships. Plus, Milli 'danced' with Tamar to music from the radio on the way so we had entertainment.

We stopped next at the Midway, a retired aircraft carrier turned museum. We even got discounts as military veterans because in Israel we all serve in the military, and the Israeli military still counts! Cool! We boarded the Midway into the hangar and walked around the planes and cockpits there. The kids climbed into one of the cockpits and pretended to fly. There were some simulators there and Noah and Maor took a ride in one. They had a wonderful time doing flips, corkscrews and barrel rolls, and even managed to shoot down an enemy plane or two.

We went up to the flight deck and saw all the planes and helicopters, saw how many of them folded their wings and entered a few of them. Milli came into one of the helicopters with the boys, Tamar and I, and insisted on fastening her seat belt! We sat on a piston from the catapult that shoots planes into the air and we saw all sorts of bombs and missiles there.

We went down to a lower deck on our way out but got a little lost, so instead of getting off the boat we saw the kitchen and dining rooms and a display of navy uniforms before finally finding an exit sign.

We left the ship and walked along the coast towards an area with several restaurants for lunch. On the way we saw several street performers playing music, mostly bad. Eventually we found a Mexican restaurant called Puesto. A bit pricey but really good. The kids had tortillas with pulled chicken, Tali, Noah and I had tortillas with various meats, cheese, avocado, veggies and even pineapple, and spicy sauce. Delicious! Tamar ordered a seafood dish which was also very good. Tamar and I decided that with food like this we're really gonna love Mexico!

After a very good lunch Noah took us to Seal Beach (that's what we're calling it) at La Jolla cove. Milli fell asleep on the way, so Tali stayed with her in the car. The rest of us went down to the beach and saw the seals and sea lions basking in the sun and playing in the surf with human beach goers. We saw lots of pelicans, cormorants and gulls as well, all coexisting in the same place. There were lots of seal cubs on the beach and the adults let us get quite close to them for pictures. Quite an experience!

We went up to the top of the bluff and changed into bathing suits, then went down to the beach, got our goggles on and went into the water. Well, Tamar and the boys went in first. They came back soon enough all excited for seeing the goldfish (yes, that's right), some other fish, and then a couple of seals that swam right in front of them! They were so excited that I had to join. The water was cold. But once you see the seals swimming two feet from your face you forget the cold! What a fantastic experience!

Eventually we did get out of the water to warm up. Eldad and I went to look for crabs in the rocks, and Tamar and Maor went back to the seals. I found it incredible that birds, seals, fish, swimmers, surfers and even a wedding reception all coexist in the same place at the same time in perfect harmony. Amazing. Maybe we'll go back there tomorrow with the go-pro.

After exhausting ourselves at the beach we headed back home, still excited about our day.

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Photos

Next to the Midway
Tamar and the boys