San Diego Bay is a natural harbor and

deepwater port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

located in

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the f ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

near the U.S.–Mexico border. The bay, which is long and wide, is the third largest of the three large, protected natural bays on California's of coastline, after

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water f ...

and Humboldt Bay. The highly urbanized land adjacent to the bay includes the city of

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

(eighth-largest in the United States) and four other cities: National City, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach and Coronado. Considered to be one of the best natural harbors on the west coast of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

, it was colonized by

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

beginning in 1769. Later it served as base headquarters of major ships of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

in the Pacific until just before the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

entered

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, when the newly organized

United States Pacific Fleet The United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT) is a theater-level component command of the United States Navy, located in the Pacific Ocean. It provides naval forces to the Indo-Pacific Command. Fleet headquarters is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor� ...

primary base was transferred to

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. However, San Diego Bay remains as a home port of major assets, including several aircraft carriers, of the United States Pacific Fleet, and as a result of base closures beginning in the 1980s, facilities in San Diego Bay are the major naval base facilities still in operation in California.

Ports

The Port of San Diego has two container ship facilities (one for refrigerated containers) and a cruise ship terminal. A second cruise ship terminal opened in December 2010. The port handles more than 3 million metric tons of cargo yearly. The cruise ship terminal hosted more than 250 ship calls a year totaling more than 800,000 passengers at its peak in 2008; since then the number of ship calls has fallen to fewer than 100 per year due to the withdrawal of regular service by major cruise lines. General Dynamics'

National Steel and Shipbuilding Company National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, commonly referred to as NASSCO, is an American shipbuilding company with three shipyards located in San Diego, Norfolk and Mayport. It is a division of General Dynamics. The San Diego shipyard specializes ...

(NASSCO), the only shipyard on the west coast capable of building and repairing large ocean-going vessels, is near the San Diego side of the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge. San Diego International Airport is also adjacent to the bay, across Harbor Drive from the Coast Guard Station...

San Diego–Coronado Bridge

The bay is spanned by the San Diego–Coronado Bridge, built in 1969. The bridge curves and rises to a height of 200 feet above the water so that Navy ships can pass under it. (However, the vertical clearance is insufficient for ''Nimitz''-class aircraft carriers, which is why these are docked north of the bridge.) The bridge was originally a toll bridge; however, toll collection was discontinued in 2002, when the bridge's construction loans were paid in full.

America's Cup Harbor

Formerly known as Commercial Basin and housing much of San Diego's sport and commercial fishing fleet, the small cove in the southern lee of Shelter Island was renamed in 1994 to America's Cup Harbor, in honor of the

1995 America's Cup The 29th America's Cup was contested between the winner of the 1995 Citizen Cup, Team Stars & Stripes, which switched to the yacht ''Young America'' (USA 36) for the competition, and the winner of the 1995 Louis Vuitton Cup, Team New Zealand, w ...

races held in San Diego. America's Cup Harbor has several boat yards and marinas for private sailing yachts, as well as a mooring field.

Recreation

Numerous resorts, hotels, and the

San Diego Convention Center The San Diego Convention Center is the primary convention center in San Diego, California. It is located in the Marina district of downtown San Diego near the Gaslamp Quarter, at 111 West Harbor Drive. The center is managed by the San Diego C ...

are adjacent to the Bay. Several parks and nature preserves are found at various locations along the shoreline. Sightseeing boats depart from the downtown area. Commercial sport fishing and whale watching tours depart from Shelter Island. Ten

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

s call San Diego Bay home. They include the USS ''Midway'', an aircraft carrier museum, and the '' Star of India'', the oldest iron-hulled merchant ship afloat and the world's oldest active sailing ship. The ''Star of India'' and eight other ships and boats on San Diego Bay are the floating collection of the San Diego Maritime Museum; they are open to the public for a fee, and many are in sailing condition. In the northern part of the bay there are two commercial "islands" (actually peninsulas connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land) called

Harbor Island Harbor Island is an artificial island in the mouth of the Duwamish River in Seattle, Washington, US, where it empties into Elliott Bay. Built by the Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company, it was completed in 1909 and was then the largest art ...

and Shelter Island. They were built up from former sand bars and now hold hotels, restaurants, marinas, and public parkland. Across from Harbor Island is a bayside park called Spanish Landing, a historic site which commemorates the meeting in 1769 of two expeditions from Spanish Mexico that made possible the European settlement of California. Spanish Landing park is the site of San Salvador Village, where the San Diego Maritime Museum is constructing a full-sized, fully functional wooden replica of the San Salvador flagship, in which explorer

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanis ...

discovered San Diego Bay in 1542. Small boat sailing is extremely popular, and the bay is lined by dozens of marinas and nine yacht clubs, including the San Diego Yacht Club which was the home of the America's Cup from 1988 to 1995. For tourists and locals alike there many businesses that offe
jet ski rental
an
boat rental
to explore the scenic waterway. An inlet of the bay was renamed America's Cup Harbor to commemorate that occasion.

Special events

An annual fireworks display called the Big Bay Boom is held on the Fourth of July over the waters of the Bay. Fireworks are launched simultaneously from four barges in the Bay as well as from a pier in Imperial Beach. It is one of the largest annual fireworks displays in the United States and is viewed by half a million people each year. The Parade of Lights is a parade of more than 80 small boats with holiday decorations and lights on two Sundays in December. The parade has been held annually since 1972. The parade starts off Shelter Island and proceeds past

and Downtown, finishing at the Coronado ferry landing. A one-time special event was the "Parade of Flight" in February 2011, celebrating the 100th anniversary of naval aviation. It featured flights over San Diego Bay by more than 200 historic naval aircraft, and concluded with a flyover by the air wing from the U.S.S. John C. Stennis.

Naval facilities

The western border of the bay is protected from the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

by a long, narrow strip of land called the Silver Strand. The northern end of the Silver Strand expands to become North Island, the location of

Naval Air Station North Island Naval Air Station North Island or NAS North Island , at the north end of the Coronado peninsula on San Diego Bay in San Diego, California, is part of the largest aerospace-industrial complex in the United States Navy – Naval Base Coronado ...

(the home port of several aircraft carriers including the USS ''Theodore Roosevelt'') and Coronado. Coronado is the site of the famous Hotel del Coronado. The U.S. Navy has three other facilities on the bay:

Naval Station San Diego Naval Base San Diego, also known as 32nd Street Naval Station, is the second largest surface ship base of the United States Navy and is located in San Diego, California. Naval Base San Diego is the principal homeport of the Pacific Fleet, con ...

, Naval Base Point Loma at Ballast Point, which is a

Nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

Submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

base, and Naval Amphibious Base Coronado. The Coast Guard Air Station San Diego is across the bay from NAS North Island and the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

maintains a monitoring station on the Silver Strand. Several other Navy facilities are located in the surrounding area, and even more existed previously but have since been closed. The

U.S. Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through co ...

also operates one of its two Recruit Depots near the shores of San Diego Bay.

Ecology

The shallow southern end of the bay is used for evaporation ponds to extract salt from the sea water. The salt ponds, the Sweetwater Marsh, and other areas of the bay are included in the

San Diego National Wildlife Refuge Complex The San Diego National Wildlife Refuge Complex is a series of wildlife refuges established by the United States National Wildlife Service beginning in 1972. The complex incorporates five refuges in San Diego County and Orange County in California ...

. The area includes the largest contiguous mud-flat in Southern California. It is an important stop on the

Pacific Flyway The Pacific Flyway is a major north-south flyway for migratory birds in the Americas, extending from Alaska to Patagonia. Every year, migratory birds travel some or all of this distance both in spring and in fall, following food sources, heading ...

for migrating birds, and it supports numerous endangered and threatened species of plants and animals. Public access to the bay and wetlands, with walking trails and educational exhibits about the area's ecological resources, is provided at the Chula Vista Nature Center operated by the city of Chula Vista. San Diego Bay is recognized for protection by the

California Bays and Estuaries Policy The Water Quality Control Policy for the Enclosed Bays and Estuaries of California is published by the California State Water Resources Control Board as guidelines to prevent water quality degradation. The policy is revised as needed.State Water ...

.State Water Resources Control Board ''Water Quality Control Policy for the Enclosed Bays and Estuaries of California'' (1974) State of California As early as the 1840s whales were documented in the bay during the winter, with as many as fifteen seen in the bay in 1872; in 1858

whaling stations Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized indust ...

began to operate in San Diego, having ended operations as late as 1886.

Pollution

Sources of pollution in the Bay include storm-water runoff and marine waste from commercial and military shipping and shipbuilding. The city of San Diego has spent millions of dollars trying to clean up this pollution, particularly at the section of the eastern shoreline referred to as the Shipyards Sediment Site. In 2009 the city and the San Diego Unified Port Authority filed suit against several major shipping companies to recoup some of the cost of those remediation efforts. In 2014 the city reached an agreement with the San Diego Regional Water Control Board to pay a fine of nearly $1 million for storm-water violations. In 2015, the city and the Port filed suit against Monsanto, whose products containing

polychlorinated biphenyl Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, Toxic Substances Contro ...

s (PCBs) are blamed for pollution of the Bay and tidelands. The

California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, commonly referred to as OEHHA (pronounced oh-EEE-ha), is a specialized department within the cabinet-level California Environmental Protection Agency ( CalEPA) with responsibility for evaluatin ...

(OEHHA) has developed a safe eating advisory for fish caught in the Salton Sea based on levels of mercury or PCBs found in local species.

Management

The Port of San Diego manages the harbor and administers the public lands adjacent to the bay. The Port is a special government entity created by the state legislature in 1962, for which revenue consists of tariffs and rents paid by district tenants.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

San Diego Bay (called the "port of San Diego") is referenced in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo as the westernmost of the landmarks used in the resolution of the

Mexico–United States border The Mexico–United States border ( es, frontera Estados Unidos–México) is an international border separating Mexico and the United States, extending from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border trave ...

following the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the ...

. The border is defined as being "one marine league" (3 nautical miles, 3.452 mi. or 5.556 km) "due south of the southernmost point" of the bay.

References

External links

Spanish San Diego est 1776

The Maritime Museum of San Diego

California Department of Mines and Geology Bulletin 200
{{Authority control Bays of California Bodies of water of San Diego County, California Geography of San Diego Lagoons of San Diego County, California San Diego metropolitan area South Bay (San Diego County)