Pacific Heritage Tour Updates
Part Three
Very much lagging in getting the final update done. We are all back, the trip was pretty much epic. Have a number of videos I want to edit to one compilation. Hopefully in the next week or so.
Part Two
Crowds have been steady here at Morro Bay. People are interested in the history, the seamanship, the adventure, and it is a pleasure to share. In the background, work has been steady getting San Salvador ready for the guest adventure legs to come. The real fun, is yet to come!
The lines at Santa Barbara.
Santa Barbara Docking.
Why bathrooms on boats are called heads, do it up at the head of the boat, and it washes away.
Using the capstan to haul up the anchor, Port San Luis Harbor.
Arriving Morro Bay, our final stop north, guest legs heading south starting on the 21st.
Some spots are still available aboard San Salvador as she starts heading south on the 21st of August. More about the Pacific Heritage Tour, and how you can join the adventure: CLICK HERE
Part One
The tour has started. Leaving San Diego Tuesday August 1st about 1pm, 11 hours later we spent our first night in Avalon. Next day we headed to Paradise Cove Malibu, dropped our anchor, and spent the night. On Thursday, we pulled anchor, and made way to Santa Barbara, in a very lively seaway, arriving in Santa Barbara around 6pm. Friday San Salvador went back out to sea, set sail, and made it’s grand entrance sailing past Sterns Wharf.
Saturday & Sunday on the 5th and 6th, San Salvador was open dockside for visitors to view the ship. Crowds were huge both days, as the line stretched down the public dock. In the evening we needed to leave the public dock, and move down to our night dock about .2 miles away. Being Santa Barbara channel is somewhat narrow, we traveled back to our dock in reverse.
Early Monday the 7th, we shoved off leaving Santa Barbara behind us. Plan was to drop anchor at Cojo Bay, but if weather/wind/waves permitting, go on past Point Conception, which is what we did. Captain has a ritual at Point Conception, where he does a talk, pays his respect for all the sailors that are still at Conception, and pours them a bottle of nice rum into the waters of Conception. I’ve witnessed this twice, and both times we had an easy passage around the point. So our 40 mile passage now became a 85 mile passage, and we dropped anchor at Port San Luis Harbor.
Next day we only had 4 more hours to go, before docking at Morro Bay. Pulled up anchor, and shoved off at 6am. Once boat was secured, gangway installed, it was time for a bit of much needed rest.
Did I mention Otters?
To be continued…
Maritime Museum Of San Diego Announces Fall 2023 Pacific Heritage Tour Aboard Cabrillo’s San Salvador Morro Bay And Santa Barbara Maritime Museum Partner On Public Visits
SAN DIEGO, CA – Maritime Museum of San Diego, with an international reputation for excellence in restoring, maintaining, and operating historic vessels, announces their upcoming adventure at sea program. Since the completion in 2016, the Maritime Museum of San Diego has sent its galleon replica San Salvador on several coastwise voyages to partner ports and California’s offshore islands, collectively known as the Pacific Heritage Tour (PHT). San Salvador is a full-scale sixteenth century replica of the flagship used by Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo during the first European voyage making first contact with the Indigenous Native Americans here while exploring what would one day become the West Coast of the United States.
Meticulously constructed by the Maritime Museum of San Diego over six years and US Coast Guard Certified, San Salvador is one of very few early modern replica ships in which members of the public can glimpse through experience what seafaring beyond the known world was like half a millennium ago. The San Salvador vessel represents a time and experience in Pacific maritime history for adventurers young and old. Maritime Museum of San Diego has sailed the California coastline visiting Oxnard, Monterey, Morro Bay, Santa Barbara, San Pedro, the Channel Islands and Ensenada, Mexico. This is her first voyage since 2019 pausing PHT plans due to the pandemic.
Dr. Raymond Ashley, Ph.D., K.C.I., President/CEO of the Maritime Museum of San Diego, explains “We are pleased to resume the Pacific Heritage Tour, return to the Channel Islands, and partner ports for dockside visits and share this exceptional at sea experience with seafarers. We welcome the maritime history buffs who desire a unique and immersive “bucket list” type voyage. This year’s plan allows visitors to explore San Salvador dockside in Santa Barbara and Morro Bay before setting sail for two spectacular voyages allowing the Maritime Museum of San Diego to host a small group of passengers aboard for a rare sailing adventure.”
During each voyage participants will learn how to sail a galleon, steer with a whipstaff, visit prehistoric archeological sites, learn about the Cabrillo voyages, sixteenth century navigation, shipbuilding, and naval warfare, including actual use of the San Salvador’s formidable battery of artillery.
Scheduled public dockside tour partners include:
Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, Santa Barbara
Free Public tours of San Salvador at Santa Barbara Pier
Saturday, August 5 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. and Sunday, August 6 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.Morro Bay Maritime Museum, Morro Bay
Friday, August 11 – Sunday, August 20, 2023
Tickets $12.00 for adults (18-64), $10.00 for seniors (ages 65+, active military), $8.00 for children 4-17 and children 3 and under free.
San Salvador Dockside Tour Hours: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Tickets at morrobaymaritime.org
As a unique commentary on 2023 Voyage of Exploration multi-night & day voyages, San Salvador will again embark with a group of world-renowned historians and educators who will give lectures to the rest of the ship’s company, along with standing watch, steering, and sail handling with expedition participants. Historians and educators present aboard include:
Dr. Raymond Ashley is President/CEO of the Maritime Museum of San Diego, and Captain of the San Salvador. Dr. Ashley has been Director of the Maritime Museum since 1995, curator of ships, contributor to the Museum’s academic journal Mains’l Haul, and spearheaded the San Salvador project. Dr. Ashley holds a Coast Guard license for two hundred tons, Master of Sail and teaches History of Navigation for the Museum’s Educational Program. Dr. Ashley has been knighted by the King of Spain for his contribution to Spanish seafaring history.
Dr. Jim Cassidy is an archeologist and expert on the prehistoric maritime migrations to the Americas. He is co-author of California Maritime Archeology and has published numerous articles on North Pacific maritime prehistory. Jim is a former Regional Archeologist for the U.S. and is currently archeologist for the Maritime Museum of San Diego, former Director of the Museum’s docent training program, and a qualified crew for the Museum’s fleet of historic vessels.
Susan Sirota, Vice President, Operations for the Maritime Museum of San Diego, joined the staff in 1998 and has led the Development and Education departments since 2001. Susan designed the Pacific Heritage Tour and passenger programming. Well versed in science and environmental programs, public outdoor and living history program development for the Museum, Susan will engage and educate guests with an island ecology and natural history program.
The first San Salvador voyage will depart Monday, August 21 from Morro Bay, California, call in to the Northern Channel Islands and return to Oxnard Saturday, August 26.
The second voyage will depart on Sunday, August 27 from Oxnard, call in to the Southern Channel Islands and return to San Diego, California Friday, September 1.
Each 6 day/5-night 2023 Voyage of Exploration is $2,259. per person. Meals and accommodation included. Space is limited. Early reservations are encouraged. Transportation to board or return from the vessel is not included. No sailing experience required. Guests must be twelve and up. Participants are expected to be able to climb unassisted over a Jacobs ladder and will do so before disembarking.
Pacific Heritage Tour voyages must be reserved. Choose Your Voyage Today!
Morro Bay To Northern Channel Islands To Oxnard
August 21 – August 26Oxnard To Southern Channel Islands To San Diego
August 27 – September 1$2,259 per person – dates are subject to change
Sign-up for the Pacific Heritage Tour: Voyage Of Exploration
Or call (619) 234-9153 ext. 129
• Click Here for Pacific Heritage Tour 2023 Flyer
• Click Here for Pacific Heritage Tour 2023 Booking Form
More about the Pacific Heritage Tour: CLICK HERE
About the Maritime Museum of San Diego
The Maritime Museum of San Diego experience includes admission to a world-class collection of historic sailing ships, steam-powered boats, and submarine, each offering entertaining and educational exhibits. The 501c3 non-profit Museum enjoys an international reputation for excellence in restoring, maintaining, and operating historic vessels including the world’s oldest active sailing ship, Star of India. Maritime Museum of San Diego is ranked as one of the nation’s top attractions offering self-guided tours, docent guided-group tours, tall ship charters, year round public events, educational programs, and a distinctive venue for corporate/private events. The Museum is open daily along Star of India Wharf at 1492 North Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101-3309.
About Santa Barbara Maritime Museum
Since 2000, the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum has featured many artifacts and stories to share the history of the Santa Barbara Channel with more than 40,000 visitors annually and provides year-round experiential maritime history and marine science education for local youth. Featuring the impressive First-Order Fresnel Lighthouse Lens from Point Conception, SBMM’s current exhibits explore the History of Oil in Santa Barbara Channel & Chumash Use of Asphaltum, the Honda Disaster, Wives and Daughters: Keepers of the Light, and Whales Are Superheroes! SBMM is located at the historic Santa Barbara Harbor at 113 Harbor Way, Suite 190, Santa Barbara, CA 93109. Visit sbmm.org or call (805) 962-8404 for details.
About Morro Bay Maritime Museum
The Morro Bay Maritime Museum was a dream for twenty years until 2016 when Maritime Museum San Diego’s maiden Pacific Heritage Tour partnered with the fledgling MBMM’s board of directors and community to provide ten days of public tours during the maiden voyage of MMSD’s replica galleon Cabrillo’s San Salvador. A capital campaign and lease secured from the City of Morro Bay jumpstarted moving day for several iconic outdoor accessible maritime exhibits plus a small, but historically packed first structure filled floor to ceiling with artifacts, stories, films, and a maritime gift store. Discover the stories behind iconic maritime vessels, including the DSRV Avalon, one of two rescue submarines built by the US Navy; the Alma, a WWII era tugboat that saved the entire crew off the Montebello when torpedoed by invading submarines off the Pacific coast of Cambria, CA; a tule reed boat used by the Salinan Tribe to fish Central Coast Pacific Ocean and shores; a US Coast Guard Surf Rescue Boat; Spindrift, a restored Monterey-style commercial fishing boat circa 1920s-1960s; and the original Dragon Boat, Joanna’s Joy, therapy for recovering breast cancer survivors. Outdoor exhibits are accessible by QR code at any time. (805) 225-5044 or morrobaymaritime.org.