Ben A.
Yelp
When I was in college... At USC... I ditched class quite a bit, I'm headed down to San Diego to see friends. I know - - but I wasn't always a principal.
During my southern jaunts, hanging out at some part of the greater Mission Bay complex was usually part of the plan. One of my best buddies lived in Clairemont, and doing keg stands on his balcony watching the fireworks at Seaworld? ... well friends, those are the precious moments... They don't come back again.
It also became something of a stupid tradition for me to do a loop around Fiesta Island every time I went down there. But aside from the stupidity, we often enjoyed the beauty that is free parking, lots and lots of open grassy spaces, and the miles of shoreline.
On my most recent trip, Mrs. and I took the kayaks, and had a leisurely paddle around the bay. We put in very near Clairemont Blvd. and I have no problem finding a parking spot, even though it was noon on a Saturday. We had our choice of going south or north of Fiesta island, which sort of splits the bay in half. The water had to be 85°, and there were many folks out in paddle craft and small sailing vessels enjoying the no wake zone south of Fiesta.
I chose the southern route, completely forgetting about the virtually impossible gauntlet of jet skiers in the southwest corner of the bay. Still, we enjoyed getting out on the water, doing a little people watching as we cruised along the shore, and checked out the small "sensitive habitat" island where lots of wading birds and other assorted critters were hanging out.
I also took my fishing rod, and made a few casts at one of my old spots, where there is a sunken reef. I had a tough time accessing it, however, as there was a big houseboat with 20 sorority girls on board, anchored practically on top of it. Mrs. Picante encourage me to fish someplace else. I tried to explain to her that this was really the most likely place I was going to catch a fish in the whole bay. After about ten minutes of trying, I realized that they were probably scaring all the fish away every time they went down the water slide. Despite my efforts, I didn't catch anything... But strangely, I didn't seem to mind.
Just another nice day on the water. Next time, I think we'll go north of the island, head up to the bridge, and maybe go see the parts of the bay closer to the ocean. Love me some San Diego...