Seals tour

Next on our agenda, we went to Seaport Village in San Diego and took the seals tour. We travelled in a vehicle that goes on land and water. We toured San Diego and then went into the harbor. A California gray whale had come into the harbor and we saw it several times. Whales generally do not go into the harbor and it's late in the season for them to be there. There were two women in kayaks in the harbor and the whale went over by them. They looked very "concerned". I would have been also.

I learned several new things about the Navy. Did you know that the Navy trains dolphins to go under ships to examine them with a video camera attached to it's fin? If the people see areas on the ship that are a concern, they signal the dolphin who comes back up and then takes a buoy and attaches it to the area so that divers can check it out later. They train them in the harbor.

The Navy also trains sea lions. They can take a leash and unhook it from themselves and attach it to a missile that sunk to the bottom so that it can be towed out of the bottom of the ocean. The sea lions we saw must have been on vacation.

San Diego has several bases and a lot of military personnel. It is the biggest industry in San Diego with bio technology and tourism following closely according to our tour.

Captain Jim and First Mate Tom's tour was entertaining and educational and it was worth the $35 ticket.

Nebraska Nellie