It has been nearly a year since our stay on beautiful Shelter Island in San Diego, CA. It is not an island, but more like a peninsula with the harbor on one side and the bay between the peninsula and North Island Naval Air Station on the other. Shelter Island is just over a mile long and a few hundred feet wide. There is a walkway from one end of the island to the other, and one road connecting the peninsula to the mainland. Morning and evening walks are peaceful and serene with a beautiful view of the City lights of San Diego in the distance. Until the jets take off from the Naval Air Base. Those are loud! The afterburners are amazingly bright red like hot burners on an old-style electric stove. The sound of the jets taking off after sundown were one of my favorite things to hear, causing my immediate rush from wherever I was in the hotel room to get a glimpse of those red hot afterburners from our bayside balcony in the dark.

I did not research the history of Shelter Island in San Diego while we were there last year. This is what I just found on Wikipedia:

Shelter Island is a neighborhood of Point Loma in San Diego, California, United States. It is actually not an island but is connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land. It was originally a sandbank in San Diego Bay, visible only at low tide. It was built up into dry land using material dredged from the bay in 1934.^[1] It was developed in the 1950s^[2] and contains hotels, restaurants, marinas, and public parkland.

The “island” is 1.2 miles (1.9 km) long and only a few hundred feet wide. A single street, Shelter Island Drive, runs the length of Shelter Island and also connects it to the mainland via a causeway lined with marine-related businesses.

Walking around the island every day felt surreal and like a place I would like to visit again and again. It is a magical place, especially at night, next to the marina crowded with sailboats floating in the dark, showing off all of that richness in the water next to the reflection of the moon dancing across the small waves splashing under the stars, barely visible next to the brightness of the moon.

We are going back! We reserved the same room as last year on Shelter Island. Then my husband had a surgery about 4 weeks ago, so we canceled our reservations. He is doing so well, however, we decided to go after all. Hopefully, the room is still available.

I can’t wait to go back! The palm trees are so beautiful. The benches along the walkways beckon one to sit down for a minute and take time to enjoy the surrounding beauty of the trees, grass and, of course, the water in the bay moving along, taking every little drop of memory with it, never to be seen the same way again.

People are friendly on the island. There is a sense of safety. Most of the people my husband and I spoke to last year were also visiting California. They were enjoying their walks along the bay. You could see in their eyes how relaxed they were, how present they were, not in a hurry to go anywhere, just taking in the quiet moments and beautiful surroundings, not wanting the time to pass too quickly.

No two trips are the same. Even to the same place. Our last trip to San Diego was life changing in many ways. There was a lot of time to walk, sit, listen, observe, feel and ponder. I suspect this trip will be filled with reminiscings of some of the memories of last year and, importantly, spending time by my husband’s side as he takes me with him on a ride down memory lane, pointing out where he lived, worked, and spent time as a young sailor in the Navy stationed in San Diego. I am looking forward to visualizing his memories as he shares them with me.

My husband likes to coin hunt with his metal detector. Last year, he found, among other things, a couple of rings on the beach. We are looking forward to spending time searching for “buried treasures” along the ocean front, again, this year.

While in San Diego, we went to Sea World and San Diego Zoo. We took a beautiful sunset dolphin and whale watching cruise and a fun little seal cruise on the bus boat. I love to be out on the water. It reminds me of wonderful family time, fishing with my parents, brother and sister when we were younger. That is a blog post for another day.

So, if you have visited San Diego or live in the area, what are some of the “must dos” we can participate in this year? What are some of your favorite restaurants or other places to eat? Tell me about anything we should not miss while we are there.