“Sailing is not in the mainstream—and that’s something that interests me,” says John Trice, a commercial photographer and University Heights resident. “That, and my wife used to be a sailing instructor.” During the National Offshore One-Design Series in 2012, the San Diego Yacht Club invited Trice to shoot the regatta (happening again this month, March 14–16). For this shot, he was on one of the chase boats, right next to one of the marks the boats have to round. “With such a long focal length (200mm) and a wide open aperture (f2.8), the entire frame gets super compressed,” says Trice. “So anything in the immediate foreground gets really blurry. In this shot there was a swell between me and the J80 and so it almost looks like I’m below the surface of the water.” The result: We can feel the intensity of the race.
The Best Places to Dock and Dine in San Diego (and How to Get There)
Leave the car at the marina and sail right up to San Diego's best waterfront eateries
Bluewater Boathouse Seafood Grill
By Chase Scheinbaum
When Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sailed into San Diego Bay in 1542, he clearly realized this: It’s a lovely place to drop anchor and have a bite to eat. All these years later, it still is!
Arguably it’s even better now given that you can dock a boat steps from dozens of restaurants around San Diego Bay—and 60 if you include Mission Bay.
The point is this: Sunning yourself on the deck of a boat beats sweating in traffic. Throwing a line over a cleat beats scrapping for a parking spot. If you don’t have a boat, make a friend who does. Or take some of our other advice below, where you’ll also find everything you need to know about showing up dockside for a meal and sailing off into the sunset.
How it Works:
This page and this page have comprehensive listings of every eatery that boasts a dock for a parking lot, listed by area where you’ll be sailing, whether it’s the Bay, Coronado Island, Shelter Island, Mission Bay, South Bay, and so on. Many but not all restaurant docks are first-come, first-served, and prices vary; call the restaurant or marina ahead of time to find out.
It would be nice if water taxis crisscrossed the San Diego Bay on demand. Alas, they do not. The boat-less should consider a stand up paddleboard. Or a pair of swim fins. Or one of those inflatable donuts that are all the rage on Instagram.
The Best Places to Dock and Dine in San Diego (and How to Get There)
Festivals, food, and fireworks—the essential combination for celebrating Independence Day in San Diego. Here's what's happening around town this weekend.
By Lauren Craig
Stuff to Do
4th of July Celebration, Coronado* Start the morning with the annual 15K or 5K run/walk, watch the festive parade, and listen to a concert in Spreckles Park at 4:00 p.m. 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. | ecoronado.com/4th
Rancho Bernardo’s The Spirit of the Fourth*+ Take the family to Webb Park for a picnic for a full day of music, contests, and games for the kids to love. 7:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. | spiritofthefourth.org
San Diego County Fair, Del Mar*+ Spend the whole day with a patriotic opening ceremony, an afternoon parade, and a nighttime concert along with rides and ridiculous fried foods. 9:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. | sdfair.com
Scripps Ranch 4th of July Parade and Festival Show up early for the parade and enjoy the carnival games, food, and fun at the festival afterwards. 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. | scrippsranch.org
Old Town State Historic Park Make crafts and enjoy old-fashioned activities to celebrate Independence Day like the first San Diegans did. 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. | oldtownsandiegoguide.com
51st Annual Independence Day Celebration & Fireworks Spectacular, Escondido* Presented by the California Center for the Arts, celebrate the Fourth with food vendors, a community art sale, performances, and more. 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. | visitescondido.com
Honor our Heroes, Celebrate our Freedom, Vista*+ Come to the Moonlight Amphitheater for the “Light Up the Night” dinner, a performance by Get Back Loretta, and the honoring of three military heroes. 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. | cityofvista.com
IndepenDANCE family Fireworks Cruise* Cruise on the California Spirit and dance the night away, taking in the 360-degree views of the fireworks. 8:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. | eventbrite.com
* includes fireworks
+ tickets are required
Fireworks
Red, White, and BOOM! 8:30 p.m., LEGOLAND legoland.com
Annual Alchemy BBQ, South Park Load up a plate filled with BBQ selections for just $12, selections including beef brisket, chicken, and corn on the cob. 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. | alchemysandiego.com
The Shores Oceanfront Restaurant, La Jolla Dine on the beach and watch the fireworks while eating a three-course meal for just $48 a person and $14 for wine pairings. 5.00 p.m. to 10 p.m. | theshoresrestaurant.com
Red, White, and Brew Pubcrawl, Gaslamp Dress up and head down to over a dozen bars along the Gaslamp district in this festive pubcrawl for $2 Draft Beers, 2-1 Mixed Drinks, and $4 shots. 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. | pubcrawls.com
Festivals, food, and fireworks—the essential combination for celebrating Independence Day in San Diego. Here's what's happening around town this weekend.
By Lauren Craig
Stuff to Do
4th of July Celebration, Coronado* Start the morning with the annual 15K or 5K run/walk, watch the festive parade, and listen to a concert in Spreckles Park at 4:00 p.m. 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. | ecoronado.com/4th
Rancho Bernardo’s The Spirit of the Fourth*+ Take the family to Webb Park for a picnic for a full day of music, contests, and games for the kids to love. 7:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. | spiritofthefourth.org
San Diego County Fair, Del Mar*+ Spend the whole day with a patriotic opening ceremony, an afternoon parade, and a nighttime concert along with rides and ridiculous fried foods. 9:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. | sdfair.com
Scripps Ranch 4th of July Parade and Festival Show up early for the parade and enjoy the carnival games, food, and fun at the festival afterwards. 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. | scrippsranch.org
Old Town State Historic Park Make crafts and enjoy old-fashioned activities to celebrate Independence Day like the first San Diegans did. 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. | oldtownsandiegoguide.com
51st Annual Independence Day Celebration & Fireworks Spectacular, Escondido* Presented by the California Center for the Arts, celebrate the Fourth with food vendors, a community art sale, performances, and more. 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. | visitescondido.com
Honor our Heroes, Celebrate our Freedom, Vista*+ Come to the Moonlight Amphitheater for the “Light Up the Night” dinner, a performance by Get Back Loretta, and the honoring of three military heroes. 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. | cityofvista.com
IndepenDANCE family Fireworks Cruise* Cruise on the California Spirit and dance the night away, taking in the 360-degree views of the fireworks. 8:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. | eventbrite.com
* includes fireworks
+ tickets are required
Fireworks
Red, White, and BOOM! 8:30 p.m., LEGOLAND legoland.com
Annual Alchemy BBQ, South Park Load up a plate filled with BBQ selections for just $12, selections including beef brisket, chicken, and corn on the cob. 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. | alchemysandiego.com
The Shores Oceanfront Restaurant, La Jolla Dine on the beach and watch the fireworks while eating a three-course meal for just $48 a person and $14 for wine pairings. 5.00 p.m. to 10 p.m. | theshoresrestaurant.com
Red, White, and Brew Pubcrawl, Gaslamp Dress up and head down to over a dozen bars along the Gaslamp district in this festive pubcrawl for $2 Draft Beers, 2-1 Mixed Drinks, and $4 shots. 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. | pubcrawls.com
The Best Gym in San Diego Isn’t Really a Gym Anymore
Earlier this year, Fit quietly dropped "athletic" from its brand, from Fit Athletic Clubs to simply Fit, and started calling itself something new: a social wellness club.
There’s a version of San Diego that lives in two extremes. On one side, the 5 a.m. crowd: biohackers, marathoners, people who’ve already logged a cold plunge before your alarm goes off. On the other, the after-dark crowd, the ones chasing sunset happy hours and late dinners with friends. Everyone seems to be either optimizing or unwinding, and most of us feel like we’re failing at both.
Fit, San Diego’s reigning Best Gym for the third year running, has built its entire identity around erasing that divide.
Walk into one of Fit’s three San Diego locations on a Tuesday afternoon and the lines blur fast. Someone’s mid-set on the squat rack. Someone else has a laptop open at a café table a few feet away, half-working, half-people-watching. A group is trading plans for the weekend’s event by the recovery lounge. Nobody’s in a rush to leave.
“We’re not competing for the same people,” says Emily Waybright, Public Relations Manager at Fit, addressing the arrival of a national luxury gym chain in San Diego this year. “We don’t really feel like we’re in the gym category. It’s this unique thing.”
That unique thing has a name now. Earlier this year, Fit quietly dropped “athletic” from its brand, from Fit Athletic Clubs to simply Fit, and started calling itself something new: a social wellness club.
It’s a small wording change with a bigger idea behind it. Fit was never built around escaping the workday. It was built around the people who genuinely like what they do, and who want workouts, work, and friendships to happen in the same place instead of three separate ones. Because sometimes red light therapy with a stranger turns into weekend plans.
Fit’s philosophy traces back to its founder, who started the brand nearly two decades ago after failing to find a gym he actually wanted to belong to. He looked instead to the old-school country club, where people came for a shared interest and stayed for the community. His version was made for a younger generation, minus the golf, plus the loud music.
Which makes it a little ironic that the very award putting Fit back in the spotlight this year is Best Gym.
What does the best traditional gym look like when the definition of a gym is becoming less traditional? It’s a fair question, and Fit’s answer is that the fitness industry itself is shifting. The 45-minutes-in, 45-minutes-out model is giving way to something closer to a genuine third space, the kind of role the office and the bar used to play before remote work and changing nightlife habits rearranged how people spend their time
For Fit, community isn’t a marketing add-on to fitness. It’s the through-line. Members aren’t just paying for a treadmill; they’re paying for an entire day of social wellness that’s built on performance, recovery, connection, and a plan for the next event on the calendar. That’s a much harder membership to walk away from.
Ambition and ease aren’t opposites here, they exist side by side, where passion and play share the same morning. On September 12, Fit is hosting Sol, a full day wellness festival at Fit Social. The morning focuses on wellness classes and vendors and then the evening is a full party with multiple DJ sets and an open bar. Think of it as a kick-off to locals’ summer in San Diego.
Ready to see what a social wellness club actually looks like? Visit fitclubs.com, or follow along at @thefitclubs on Instagram.
We're on the hunt for the best summer outdoor photographs shot by our readers
By Laurie Nicoud
Calling all local photographers! We’re on the lookout for summer outdoor shots of San Diego to feature in the magazine’s “Picture Perfect” section. Have an epic shot of the Del Mar Fair? A landscape scene from Crystal Pier? A dramatic view from your Iron Mountain hike? We want to see them all! Email your stunners to [email protected].
And take a look at Picture Perfect favorites for inspiration:
We're on the hunt for the best summer outdoor photographs shot by our readers
By Laurie Nicoud
Calling all local photographers! We’re on the lookout for summer outdoor shots of San Diego to feature in the magazine’s “Picture Perfect” section. Have an epic shot of the Del Mar Fair? A landscape scene from Crystal Pier? A dramatic view from your Iron Mountain hike? We want to see them all! Email your stunners to [email protected].
And take a look at Picture Perfect favorites for inspiration:
Growing up, Laika Nur, MD, Scripps Clinic sports medicine specialist, loved watching beach volleyball when the Association of Volleyball Professionals tour came to her hometown of Chicago. A talented volleyball player herself, she remembers sitting in the stands all day, and once, even got a couple autographs. Years later, Dr. Nur was attending a professional event focused on women’s sports, and the discussion turned to a new professional women’s volleyball league. The general manager and coaching staff for San Diego’s team, the Mojo, happened to be in attendance, and Dr. Nur took the opportunity to ask them if they needed a team doctor. Flash forward to the Mojo’s inaugural 2024 season, when Dr. Nur officially became the team physician. Click here to read more about Dr. Nur and how she incorporates lessons she learned on the court into her practice.
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