San Diego - General Info
Description:
Lying just north of the border with Mexico, San Diego is a natural Port of Entry/Exit for yachts cruising the west coast. The large area of San Diego Bay provides a large area of sheltered water for sailing and berthing.
San Diego has a somewhat unique climate. Whereas you might expect it to be hot and dry – as it is only a hundred miles south of Death Valley, one of the hottest places on earth – it has a mild, almost cool climate. Even in the middle of the summer, you may need a jacket at night.
Entrance Notes and Cautions:
San Diego is a major port for the US Navy, the home of the US Navy SEALS, and multiple aircraft carriers will often be docked. Areas of the seaport are extremely tightly controlled and will be actively patrolled. Do not, under any circumstances, approach a US military vessel or cross into any restricted areas (all of which can be found in typical charts). This can result in massive fines, jail time, or even being fired upon by military police.
All information regarding the port, including information concerning restricted areas and anchorages, can be found at the Port of San Diego website.
Position:
32° 39.50’N, 117° 14.12’W (harbour entrance)
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Related to following destinations: San Diego, USA, West Coast (USA)
Port Navigation
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San Diego
October 2021
San Diego has many rules on anchoring. This was our experience in some of the anchorages:
Glorietta Bay – A5 anchorage
Quite a small anchorage but has easy access to the dinghy dock just across the water. Anchor dug in right away . We took the dinghy from here to Shelter Island and it took around 50 mins.
LaPlaya – A1 anchorage ( weekend only)
Very close to shelter Island and you can leave your dinghy on Pearson’s fuel dock. We also left our dinghy on San Diego Yacht Club’s dinghy dock, not sure if we were supposed to be nobody said anything and at this time we didn’t know we could leave it at the fuel dock.
Long Term anchorage for non San Diego residents -A9
It can get quite tight here but boats seemed to come and go, we only stayed for one night.
We used the dinghy dock to the far side of the CoastGuard Station. It was very full and everyone had their outboards, fuel tanks and dinghy’s locked on. We walked to the airport from here to clear out, as a foreign flagged vessel you need to get your 1300 form stamped by CBP. As of writing it is situated in terminal 2 , go to the sign that says Zone V on the side of the road and it’s directly inside the building on the ground floor, opens 9-5 Monday to Friday. If you wish to clear out at the weekend then you’d need to go on the Friday. Telephone number for assistance is : (619) 491-2601 ( NB : this is not the office number but they will assist you. )
San Diego – Public Dock
You can book in advance by checking availability online and then calling : (619) 686-6227 or email them your boat registration document and driving licence . They will then allocate you a berth. Very helpful if you can get them on the phone, they did respond quickly to our emails too.
The toilets are public toilets and are open 24/7 , they also replenish the stock every day .
The showers were not open, although we were provided the key code!
The rumours we’d heard about this dock were :
“There are many homeless people hanging around who will steal things from your boat during the night.
There are many derelict boats here.
Very noisy at night as homeless people come up and down the dock”
Our experience was very positive, there are many local transient yachts that come in for a few days to do work on their boats. There are no derelict boats, some people just don’t have enough money to do their boats up. There were no homeless people on the shore or the docks, some locals came on the docks to look at the boats. There is a Pilot Boat that went out about twice a night but after the first few nights we became used to the noise of the engine.
Laundry in town – Mayla’s Fluff & Fold Service $2 a lb , blankets, quilts etc separate, drop off before 10am get back the same day. She’s only there in the mornings. Good, friendly service. Tel : +1 (619) 829-4219 . This is a coin laundry so you can do it yourself. There is a toilet for customers.
Downwind Marine chandlery was a great shop and they were extremely helpful by allowing us to have things delivered here. Their riggers ( Ed and Evan) were also very knowledgeable and did some splicing of new ropes for us.
We used Steve Harrison – Harrison Marine, on Shelter Drive to do some machine work, he’s a sailor, knows his stuff and gets the job done on time!
We used the electric scooters to get around but the buses are better if you want to go a bit further. Then uber/ Lyft , definitely try both as the prices vary at different times .