Back to the Boathouse!

Not long ago, this was the Shelter Pointe Hotel, but it has changed owners recently. Taxi drivers know it under the old name. The location is an island in San Diego Harbor with a view of the city, the Navy ships going and coming, hundreds of yachts at anchor and at sale and fabulous sunsets. This hotel's location is a $20 taxi ride from downtown, but it is a wonderful place for a chill-out weekend. The heated pool and sandy volleyball beach is a hit with families. I came to this hotel for a meeting, but a meeting with absolutely outstanding views of the yachts and the sea. The bedrooms of this hotel are in several buildings, most without elevators and often a long walk from the reception area, but the potential of having a great view is high. My bedroom was nothing special, but I truly enjoyed my walks along the yacht marina to get to the conference center. Even during the meetings, I found myself doing a lot of gazing out the windows. There will be many upgrades at this hotel as the new owners get going with the changes they have planned. It has the potential of being a really fine resort (with increasing prices). There is a charge for parking a car, but I think that it too keeps visitors who come to enjoy the sunsets from tying up all the parking. There is a fine restaurant, room service, and a health spa, but for the time of my visit, the gift shop was shut for remodeling. No place to even buy a newspaper or candy bar! That will be improved. When you book, make a specific request for a view room on an upper floor of one of the outer buildings if you don't mind a walk. There are the usual in-room facilities, including a mini refrigerator and coffeemaker. Look for your closet behind the full-length mirror! The hotel's map includes the advice not to walk alone at night along the water or the marina. This hotel will pick you up at the airport if you telephone them when you arrive and will also take you to and from restaurants on Shelter Island if the van is available. Keep the telephone number handy for this service: (619) 221-8000.

Humphrey's is in the former location of Coconuts Restaurant, for those who remember this great place of the past. It is a beautiful building with a wonderful marina view. The food is great, highest quality, beautifully prepared. We enjoyed it so much for dinner that we went back for a lunch on another day.

Everything is fresh, and beautifully prepared and served. The 'Taste of San Diego', with large prawns, shallots, and sherry at $24, is a really nice deal for a fine meal. The salads are wonderful, the desserts incredible; but best of all are the nice people who work there. We really felt welcome.

Most nights of the week Humphrey's has the "Back Stage Music Club", with wonderful musicians in a night club atmosphere. www.humphreysbythebay.com

Humphrey's is also famous for a wonderful Sunday brunch. The wine selection is vast, reasonably priced, and the servers are very knowledgeable about the wines they offer. This is a great place for a really nice meal in a pleasant atmosphere.

Come to this fine restaurant for the Chargilled Ahi Tuna ($23.95) and really have a nice dinner! Of course it has a nice view. This is San Diego! This restaurant is on the 2nd of the man-made islands in San Diego Harbor, and isn't far from the airport.

The prices here are very reasonable for the quality of the food and the service. An enormous bowl of clam chowder is $5.95 and Crispy Malaysian Coconut Prawns are $22.95.

This is a large restaurant, in an upstairs location, with no elevator. The views are great by day and by night, but the stairs are steep. It is a $15.00 taxi ride from downtown.

On the evening we dined here it was unseasonably chilly, so the large windows were closed, but outside dining is a bonus in normal Southern California weather. I would go out of my way to dine at this nice restaurant.

I enjoyed the Ahi Tuna cooked just a bit and served barely warm, sliced thin and as tasty as possible. Wonderful! Most of the people I dined with had prawns cooked one way or another. Absolutely huge prawns.

www.boathouserestaurant.com

AJ's Grill is in the Kona Kai Resort (once the Shelter Pointe Hotel) and is a very nice place for a meal either inside or on the terrace overlooking the marina. The food is fresh, very well prepared, and properly served. The portions are large and the atmosphere is gracious.

There is a bar/lounge off to one side, but the restaurant is separate from that area, so you can feel comfortable bringing the children along. This restaurant has a very high reputation and would do very well on its own entirely separate from the resort, so it is a pleasure to have it in a handy location in the main building.

I can't get over having such fine views, blue skies, and fresh air! Sunny and cheerful situation, for sure. We had a late breakfast on Sunday, which is served to the dot of noon, with no regular lunch offerings until that time is ticked off on the clock.

We each had egg dishes, mine with a traditional Mexican flair and my fella's an American omelet. Both excellent and huge. Fair warning on that!

Oh, how much I hated to go to work! We lingered over coffee as long as I dared and enjoyed every minute.

SeaWorld has a wonderful collection of penguins, therefore I had to make a visit. This turned out to be a wonderful day out, with all sorts of things to do and see. Was I surprised the Clydesdale horses were there? Yes! Was I surprised that the food in the Anheuser-Busch Hospitality Center was great? Yes!

I did as much as a could do in a long day and evening at SeaWorld, a return trip for me; but purely enjoyable. I even bought a Behind the Scenes tour and highly recommend doing that. Yes, but I was there for the penguins, and penguins I did see and enjoy. The best penguin set up in the world. Best variety of penguins to be seen and the best cared for.

We walked, ate, visited the various animals, and even did the Haunted Lighthouse show. However, we passed on doing the rest of the shows, as they take a lot of time and are less interesting to us than seeing the animals. A special treat was seeing the manatees, a group of three huge creatures, rescued in Florida and living very well in San Diego.

Did I mention the food was great? Really! My fella declared his turkey sandwich at the Anheuser-Busch Hospitality restaurant 'best ever' and that is after we had roast beef sandwiches there several hours earlier. He had to try something else on their menu!

The animals are well cared for, the gardens are beautiful, and the people who work there are kind and friendly. This park is very, very clean and tidy, even on a busy Saturday. I will return! It's that good!

If you take a taxi to SeaWorld, make sure you know where to catch a taxi to depart the park. My taxi driver showed me the pick up point (far to the right as you depart the entertainment area) and hard to find. It is at least a 5 minute walk from the ticket booths as is not at all obvious. They need to do a better job with this for visitors who arrive and depart by taxi.