I went on a paddlewheel steam boat ride.

In San Diego of all places.

It was the Bahia Belle on Mission Bay.

It isn’t really steam-powered.

And it isn’t the Mississippi river… which I have been on in a real paddlewheel steam boat… but it is in a nice location.

And it was a lovely evening.

Clear sky, not too hot.

And the water was like glass.

Yeah, you have a party barge, but our boat has a full bar.

And ours has paddlewheels… which are just for show, and spin as the boat moves through the water, but don’t move the boat.

The Bahia Belle just cruises slowly between the Catamaran Hotel, seen above, and the Bahia Hotel.

No steam coming out of those stacks.

There is a secret to picking the right time for this short boat trip. Which I will explain in the next post. Notice that the guy in the photo above is magically riding two feet above the water on some kind of futuristic space surfboard.

Oh, and we bought two used kayaks from a friend of ours and had a great time in Mission Bay very near the boat you just saw, only a few days earlier. I have no good photos of that day.