Of ships, skyscrapers and statues

San Diego, CA – Sunlight sparkled on the waters of San Diego Bay as we waited for the Lord Hornblower to pull in for our harbour cruise. We booked the two-hour cruise that would take us to both the northern and southern portions of the bay for a full picture of the city’s busy shoreline.

San Diego is an important centre for the US Navy.  Its naval yards not only host the active ships in the Pacific fleet, but they also repair, refurbish and recycle naval vessels, and build new ones as well. Right next to the pier where we caught our cruise boat was the USS Midway, a huge aircraft carrier with an illustrious war record in the Pacific, which is now a floating museum.

Monuments to naval heroes of World War II are placed along the park land next to the harbour. A huge reproduction of Unconditional Surrender stands in a park here – that iconic photo from the cover of Life magazine where a sailor grabs a nurse and bends her backward in a passionate embrace in Times Square when the end of the war is announced.  Couples by the thousands (including Val and me!) pose in front of the 25-foot statue and try to mimic their posture for the camera.

As we sailed around the harbour, we got a great view of the city’s skyline, and of the extensive naval yards with destroyers, frigates, aircraft carriers, supply ships and floating drydocks, not to mention huge cranes and storehouses.

On the southern loop we passed under the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge, a high, curving link between the mainland and the island of Coronado.  It’s two and a half miles long, and we were told the only reason for its curve was so the bridge would qualify for federal funding, which didn’t kick in until it passed the two-mile mark.

The northern loop of our cruise took us past the San Diego airport, and we watched as a big plane came from the east, where the mountains rise up behind the city, and swooped lower and lower over the skyscrapers, descending below the royal palm trees and disappearing onto the runway behind the buildings along the shore.  It was hard to see how it would find room to land from our vantage point, so that made it kind of spellbinding!

The more affluent homes could be seen along the shore of Coronado island, and lots of sailboats with colourful spinnakers glided along in the bay.  On some wooden docks we passed, a few dozen soporific sea lions were sprawled together, napping in the sun like great brown lumps.  Over our heads a few seagulls hovered, hoping for crumbs from the tourists.  Our captain had asked us to refrain from feeding them, so we were spared a bombardment of gulls!

We were delighted with our first peek at this beautiful city.  Back on shore, we went over for our kiss picture, and found nearby a tribute to Bob Hope, with a statue of him at a mike, surrounded by statues representing the many troops he entertained over the years. A looped sound track of his comical monologue entertained tourists who posed for pictures among the bronze statues.  This wasn’t his only tribute; the lead ship of a new class of vehicle cargo ships is called the USNS Bob Hope.