A Day Visiting Balboa Island With Friends: Priceless

Several of my boogie boarding friends planned a trip to Balboa Island today, and I was smart enough to join them. There were nine of us in all. We had a spectacular time and perfect weather. Our original plan was to go kyaking in the beautiful, calm waters, but decided to rent a motorized boat instead, due to the cool weather. We all hate to be cold! Here's how our day went.

We left Encinitas at 8:45 in two cars, and arrived in Balboa around 10:15. I hadn't been there in years and had forgotten what an utterly charming little town it is. The whole island is only one square mile, yet it is loaded with great shopping, souvenir shops, a few restaurants, and some spectacular homes. Every homeowner takes great pride in his property and all homes are in tip top shape. Gardens are important, one more beautiful than the next. Architecture runs the gamut. Most homes are at least two-story due to the small size of the lots. Everywhere you look you see painters, carpenters and gardners working to keep up the residential area.

We shopped on Marine Avenue, the main street in Balboa before lunch. Great gift shops, upscale clothing stores, children's clothes and toys and restaurants are in abundance. Yogurt, pizza, burgers, diners, candy shops and of course stands selling the famous Balboa Bar are present. Everyone claims that their shop sells the original Balboa Bar, but they all seem to be the same. A Balboa Bar is simply vanilla ice cream on a stick, covered in chocolate, and either finished with jimmies or nuts. We did not have one, but they did look delicious.

My favorite part of the day was still to come. We arranged to rent a motorized boat to putt putt around the bay, eat a picnic lunch on board, and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Lucky for us, the sun finally broke through around noon and we had a magnificent afternoon. Captain Jill and Captain Marie kept the boat on an even course and we enjoyed our home prepared picnic lunch, lots of conversation and a tour around the bay. Thanks to Debbie for remembering to have the boat rental company put the life rafts on board. They were going to send us out to sea with no life jackets!!

Our entertainment came from the sea lions that were abundant and naughty. It's obvious the sea lions are not afraid of humans, as we got within a few feet of them relaxing in the water on their backs or sunbathing on someone's multi-million dollar yacht. The sea lions have decided that the boats and yachts in Balboa are their personal living room. There were four sea lions on one boat. When a little dinghy went by slapping an oar at them to try to get them off the boat, the sea lions swam around the boat until the dinghy left, then got right back on the boat. This is a terrible problem for the boat owners. Many owners have put fencing around the deck to keep the sea lions from ruining their property. The animals sure are cute to look at, though. Debbie took lots of pictures of the sea lions relaxing in the sun.

After a wonderful lunch and sailing around the bay, we returned to the Fun Zone area of Balboa and did a bit more shopping. I was hungry for something sweet, so while some went off for yogurt, Fran, Pam and I went to Wilma's Patio, a casual family restaurant. We had pound cake topped with vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries. A sweet ending to a very sweet day.