San Diego Shelter Island

colbysmith

colbysmith

Active member
Earlier, prior to coming out west for the Catalina Island cruise, I was asking about possible marinas and parking in San Diego. I got very few suggestions that panned out. Sean from NautiCat had suggested Dana Point, but that was half way between LA and San Diego, to far away from where we wanted to be. I think maybe Alian on DeJa La mentioned Shelter Island. For those that are in the same predicament that I was in, I wanted to share about Shelter Island. There is a large boat launch facility with quite a bit of parking. All free! There are no docks beside the ramp, but there is a dock around the east side of the launch cove. One is only allowed to park for 72 hours. But you can move your rig around and get by that issue, if you are staying in the area and able to do that. There also is no fresh water rinse down available here. (I brought a 2 gallon ag sprayer with salt away to spray on my hubs and brakes, and will hit a car wash somewhere on the way out... I hope...otherwise it'll be Goodyear Az at my sister's before we get a chance to rinse the trailer down. We elected to stay at the Shelter Island guest dock. It is right near the Harbor Patrol station, and reasonably priced. However, for that reasonable price you pretty much just get a slip with electric and water. There are no showers, and the restrooms are public, and not always in the cleanest of conditions. Also, the sea lions have become quite a problem on the docks, and it seemed to get worse while we have been here this week. When we first arrived, they were taking up residence on the end slips. However, they are now pretty much all along the north eastern slips. Some of them probably came from the harbor patrol docks, as the patrol guys just strung security tape around their docks to keep them off. There is a Pilot Boat at the end of that eastern dock, and the sea lions are becoming a hassle for them. The pilot has been showing up with a leaf blower to scare the sea lions off so he can get to his boat, or back. There is no live person to check in with at the guest docks. It's all done by on line reservations. It's a mile and a half walk between the boat ramp and the guest slips.
Cruising on San Diego Bay has been very enjoyable. I have yet to go out of the Bay and up to Mission Bay or LaJolla. And with the winds kicking up the past couple of days, and only a couple more days before we depart, probably won't. However we are enjoying visits with Rosanne's daughter, who lives here in San Diego. Hope this helps anyone else looking to cruise in and around or from San Diego. Colby
 
Just a bit of an update. The actual walk between the guest dock and the boat launch is .88 mile. Also, it appears they do clean the restrooms daily, but that involves rinsing down the floor with a hose, and water is left standing around the toilets. The sea lions appear to have thinned out a little bit, but they are still around, barking day and night. I stayed on slip 11, which was right at the bottom of the ramp. You could hear people walking up and down, but nowhere near as annoying as the sea lions barking! Winds tend to be out of the NW, so made it very easy to back in, with the winds pushing us to the dock. Also no problem with sea lions taking up residence near us. They still tend to reside on the other dock. (Slips 12-23). There is a very large West Marine store on Rosecrans St, about a mile and a half away, just off Shelter Island drive. Ralphs grocery store is a few more blocks beyond that. Many many yacht sales shops, and a few marine electronics stores along Shelter Island drive on the way off the Island. Other than the sea lions, mostly quiet and calm at the slips. No wakes with the Harbor Patrol right next door! :wink:
 
Several comments: is that the police dock was in the past at least the customs's dock, so you might meet some very interesting people there.

There are Several Yach Clubs: San Diego, & Silver gate. If you belong to a landed club and are in good standing, you should be able to get reciprocity from both of those clubs. Probably not have slips, but nice meals, drinks and views.

Down Wind Marine has been supplying long distance cruising sailor for a long time. Worth a stop over Worst Marine, at least to drool over systems etc. Defiant stop if. you are headed down to Baja.
 
We don’t belong to any yacht clubs as most rather expensive! :wink: I believe this is the previous Harbor police dock. But folks have been pretty friendly. Most boaters/sailors visiting like us or locals tying up for a few days. I don’t think they have the squatting problem of the past. I’m sure a few of the folks that pass thru are homeless except for their boats. But no derelicts have pulled in. Except for the sea lions! :mrgreen: I would have no problem using these guest slips again in the future. But I’d make sure I still have earplugs on the boat!
 
Molly Brown is right about the automatic boat wash so I hope you're heading inland already! Rosanne's daughter might even want to go with you.

Take care and be safe!
 
Left San Diego this morning, boat on the trailer and pulling out of the ramp parking lot at 7:30am. A little breezy going over the pass, and then rain from just west of El Centro to Gila Bend. (Nothing yet here in Goodyear.) We did stop at a car wash in El Centro to clean the scum line off the boat. Before leaving the slip I ran some salt away through the kicker, and then at the ramp managed to hold my potable water hose tight against the sink faucet to run some salt away through the main. Step daughter stayed in San Diego, but lives above the city on a hill, so probably pretty safe where she is. Wonder how Catalina will do? I've been reading a book on Kindle that Sean from NautiCat recommended while we were at Catalina: Between Two Harbors, Reflections of a Catalina Island Harbormaster. Only up to ch 13, but several stories about bad weather. Sounds like it can be pretty exciting there during bad weather! The good thing out of this storm, is the temps in Goodyear will be a little cooler during our stay! Colby
 
Back
Top