San Diego, La Jolla, Sea World and Coronado island

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San Diego was the first stop on my CA trip after landing in LAX. It is a 2 hr drive from LAX to San Diego. Main attractions in the city and nearby areas are Sea World, Gaslamp Quarters, Balboa park, Coronado island, La Jolla.

Being a new newbie in a big town and trying to 'see' it as a tourist can be a little daunting. If you are driving, you have to find a place to park. Not all big cities in US are 'driver friendly'.So either you walk. Or you drive around and try to find parking and that can be a time wasting exercise or a way to see the city and downtown. I did drive around with the top of my convertible down for 2-3 hrs. Then I headed towards Coronado island. I ended up in a beach called Imperial beach. Saw some people catching crabs and fish and surfers riding the waves. Caught my first glimpse of a Seal in the water there.
GasLamp quarters is the main nightlife area in San Diego. Plenty of restaurants and bars here.

Next morning, I made a trip to La Jolla and saw a bunch of Seals in La Jolla Cove. They were all fast asleep. A few were just shifting positions. It was nice to catch a glimpse of these creatures in the wild. The drive along the coast here is nice.

Then I headed to one of the main attractions in San Diego. Sea World. Main attractions here are the Shamu, the Killer Whale show and the Dolphin show. It is a treat to watch the Whales and Dolphins follow the commands of the trainers and do acrobatics or splash a lot of water on the spectators. The Dolphins have been trained to nod yes (up & down) or no (left and right). That was fun to watch. There are lot of other sea creatures in here. More interesting are the Penguins and the Polar Bear, Beluga Whales. In the Dolphin pool, you get an opportunity to feed and pet a Dolphin. There are some 'behind the scenes tour' which I think are not really interesting. So don't spend money on any of these tours (the guided tour ticket booth is right near the entrance and cost less than $50) unless you are doing a more expensive tour which will take you in the tank with the Beluga Whales or Dolphins. These cost around $150.

After leaving Sea World (it can easily take 6 hrs here), I went to La Jolla again to check on the seals. All of them were out in the water and enjoying themselves. So they don't sleep all day! It's just funny to watch them crawl.Next morning, I visited Coronado island again. You get a nice view of the bay and the city from here. San Diego was preparing for air races the next day. My itinerary did not allow me to stay there for one more day or else I would have watched the races.That day, I saw some skydivers parashoot down on the other side of the bay and saw one helicopter doing crazy aerobatics manoeuvers, something I had not seen before. It was time to leave San Diego and head for the Death Valley. Before leaving I also took a tour of an Aircraft Carrier.

More full size photos at

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Photos

San Diego
From the Coronado island

Shamu, the Killer Whale
at Sea World

Comments

[anonymous]

hi