Maritime Museum of San Diego

The Maritime Museum of San Diego introduces a new, safe outdoor visit experience that includes historic bay cruises with general admission ticket purchase.

For this promotion, boat rides will be offered aboard one of two landmark vintage vessels including the oldest active operating harbor pilot boat, the 1914 Pilot and / or the restored Vietnam-era U.S. Navy PCF 816 Swift boat. The Museum has an international reputation for excellence in restoring, maintaining, and operating historic vessels. (At this time, lower deck galleries and exhibit areas of the ships, including submarines, remain closed.)

The 45-minute narrated boat tour will be offered daily Monday-Sunday, with check-in and boat tour times as follows:

Check-in 12: 15 p.m., boat ride 12:30 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.

Check-in 1:15 p.m., boat ride 1:30 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.

Check-in 2:15 p.m., boat ride 2:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

Check-in 3:15 p.m., boat ride 3:30 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.

The Museum also has condensed hours of operation to 10:0 a.m. to 5:00 p.m daily. Tickets may be sold until 1 hour before closing for same day visits, and are based on the new reduced capacity.

A new, easy to follow tour indicated by 6-foot markers placed on the top decks have been created for visitors to experience a selection of vessels. Safe visit protocol includes required face covering and social distancing.

The Maritime Museum of San Diego tour begins at the Berkeley steam ferryboat McKinney Deck and Observation Deck, and ends with Star of India. The outdoor tour also includes the recently restored 1904 steam yacht Medea, galleon San Salvador, topsail schooner Californian, and restored decks of the navy frigate replica HMS Surprise, featured in the academy award-winning film Master And Commander and popular Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. The USS Dolphin and Soviet Naval submarines interior exhibits remain temporarily closed for public safety.

The Historic Bay Cruise emphasizes the history of the area as you proceed around San Diego Bay.

The 45-minute Bay tour takes guests out on the water in a large loop first heading toward North Island and the Aircraft Carriers, then stopping at buoy 22. Often there’s a sea lion or two, and then the tour continues down along Coronado.  Guests will then head just under Coronado Bridge and make a port (left) turn around one of the bridge pillars.  The vessel then heads back towards the Maritime Museum along the downtown side of the waterfront.  During the entire run, guests will see a mixed history of the area and certain attractions within sight.  Also, combining lessons in our local ecology and economy.

Attractions generally talked about include:  Lindbergh field, the Coast Guard station, North Island, Carrier(s), City of Coronado, Coronado Bridge, Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, Tijuana/border, 24th Street Marine Terminal, Naval Station San Diego, the three big shipyards, 10th Ave. Marine Terminal, Convention Center, library, Petco Park, various buildings of interest in downtown, Seaport Village, Tuna Harbor, USO Park, the Midway, cruise ship terminals, and finally as passengers approach the Museum, the narration will focus on nuggets of knowledge about each of the museum vessels in the fleet.

Founded in 1948, Maritime Museum of San Diego grew out of the earlier efforts of a group of local historians and maritime enthusiasts who acquired the sailing ship Star of India in 1927. Now fully restored, the Star of India is maintained by a dedicated group of volunteers and skilled craftsmen and sailed at least once a year.