San Diego & Joshua Tree National Park

We are in San Diego for a couple of months restoring a sistership to M/V Ursa Major, the M/V Viking.  While not working aboard the M/V Viking, we spend our free time exploring San Diego and the surrounding area via Ford Focus and motorcycles.

The pier at nearby Ocean Beach is one of our favorite local spots with views of the incoming Pacific swell. 

We spent an afternoon at the Maritime Museum of San Diego.  Josh is seen here, steering the HMS Surprise, a replica of the 18th century Royal Navy Frigate Rose, used in the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

The Star of India was docked next to the HMS Surprise and is the world's oldest active sailing ship.

Also at the Maritime Museum was the B-39, a diesel-electric Soviet era submarine.

The B-39 was commissioned in the early 1970s and was on active duty for twenty years, tracking U.S. and NATO warships worldwide. 

Last weekend, we drove to the high desert community of Morengo Valley to visit our good friend Alicia, and she was kind enough to give us a tour of nearby Joshua Tree National Park.

The park is a convergence zone for the higher altitude (and wetter) Mojave Desert and the lower altitude (and drier) Colorado Desert (part of the Sonoran Desert).

The Mojave Desert portion of Joshua Tree National Park features the Joshua tree, a member of the Agave family known for its slow growth (0.25 inches per year).

The Colorado Desert portion of the Joshua Tree National Park features the creosote bush (seen here in the foreground).  The closest relative to the creosote bush is found in the arid regions of Argentina.