California conjures images of sun and sand. While there’s plenty of that, there’s also rich history, great culture, and of course wine and food. All of these await megayacht owners and guests who cruise down the coast from San Francisco to San Diego. The views along the water are enticing, but the real action occurs when you step on shore.
Capt. Mark Drewelow, founder of yacht agent C2C (as well as YachtAid Global), provides the following suggestions for a 10-day megayacht cruise. He and his team can arrange visits to all of the locations mentioned.
Day 1: San Francisco
From the marina, head out on the town in a luxury vehicle starting with Chinatown (above), the largest one outside Asia. It started with the first Chinese to arrive in 1848. Visit the Tin How Temple, dedicated to the queen of the heavens and the goddess of the seven seas in 1855, the oldest Chinese temple in the United States. Inside, hundreds of red and gold lanterns hang from the ceiling. A stroll along the lively streets of Chinatown will take you to the Golden Gate Cookie Company, Old St. Mary’s Cathedra,l and historically significant Portsmouth Square.
Lunch is planned at the unusual Slanted Door, Vietnamese style with a Pacific Rim/California spa cuisine influence.
Across town in the Golden Gate Park are multiple worthy attractions. One particularly interesting museum is the De Young Museum, constructed in 1894. It’s the fourth most visited museum in North America and 16th most visited in the world. The Museum concentrates on American art, international textile arts and costumes, and art of the ancient Americas, Oceania, and Africa. There are frequent visiting exhibits, too.
A tranquil end to the day is a visit to the exquisite Japanese Tea Gardens, walking distance from De Young. Five acres are manicured in Japanese perfection and feature an arched drum bridge, pagodas, stone lanterns, stepping stone paths, native Japanese plants, serene koi ponds, and a Zen garden.
Back aboard for dinner by your chef.
Day 2: California Wine Country
Helicopter out to Napa Valley for wine and food. First stop is Caymus Vineyard, which originally planted grapes in 1906. Low rock walls topped with ornate metal railings enclose the winery buildings, vegetable gardens, and tasting areas. There is an understated European ambiance to the compound. Caymus is famous for Cabernet Sauvignon, which frequently earns accolades and prestigious awards such as Wine Spectator’s wine of the year.
Second stop is Opus One winery, America’s first ultra-premium wine. Château Mouton Rothschild is a partner, making their first vintage in 1979. In 1981 a single case of their wine sold for $24,000 at the Napa Valley Wine Auction, the highest price ever paid for a California wine. The winery itself is integrated into the land around it. The building’s architect, Scott Johnson, refers to Opus One as being “introverted, like a jewel box.”
On the way out of town, stop by the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, the West Coast campus of the famous CIA school. Sit in on a unique cooking demonstration designed to match your interests, and try some edible delights at the Flavor Bar.
Lunch can be pre-arranged at any of the three locations listed above.
The last activity of the day is an afterhours tour of Alcatraz, a.k.a. The Rock. During its 29 years of operation, the penitentiary claimed no prisoner successfully escaped. The most famous prisoner was Al Capone.
Come evening, your captain will have your yacht depart San Francisco for Monterey, 90 nm away.
Day 3: Monterey
Start the day with our resident walking tour guide, strolling along the Monterey waterfront and Cannery Row, made famous by John Steinbeck. End the walk at the Thomas Kinkade National Archive. Kinkade was the “painter of light,” widely regarded as America’s most successful artist up until his death earlier this year.
Along the waterfront we visit to the world-renowned Monterey Bay Aquarium, whose mission is To Inspire Conservation of the Oceans.” It has dozens of exhibits, most notable a single tank of 1.2 million gallons and was the first facility to successfully exhibit a live Great White shark. Our behind-the-scenes VIP tour reveals the technical and business operations.
For the golfers aboard, head over to Pebble Beach Golf Links (above), one of the most beautiful courses on this planet, which opened for business in 1919. During the first U.S. Open championships here in 1972, Jack Nicklaus hit what turned out to be one of the most famous golf shots of all time, a perfect one-iron that struck the flagstick and stopped five inches from the cup for a tap-in birdie.
For the thrill seekers, we have a side trip to the Skip Barber Racing School at Laguna Seca motor speedway. Strap into a race car, and receive some hands-on training from professional drivers.
As part of the stay in Monterey, half the day or more can be spent on the scenic drive to Big Sur and back, 45 minutes each way. The drive is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful in the world, as the road winds along the seaside. In Big Sur, check into the elegant Ventana Inn and Spa for some refreshing treatment and a meal.
Overnight, your captain will take you to Morro Bay, 120 nm away.
Day 4: Morro Bay
Morro Bay is a traditional California fishing community, offering a protected harbor for access to the Hearst Castle by helicopter or 45-minute drive. In 1919 William Randolph Hearst hired San Francisco architect Julia Morgan to build “a little something.” By 1947, Hearst and Morgan had created an estate of 165 rooms and 127 acres of gardens, terraces, pools. and walkways and named it La Cuesta Encantada (The Enchanted Hill). Hearst Castle now operates as a state park. Visit the castle first thing in the morning. Stop at The Shell Shop in Morro Bay on the way back for some unusual browsing of shells from the seven seas.
Lunch aboard, and get underway to Santa Barbara, 105 nm away.
Day 5: Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara is an outstanding, elegant, small town. We start our day with a visit to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, home to Asian, American, and European art that spans 4,000 years. A number of artists are represented, including Thomas Eakins, Claude Monet, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, and Georgia O’Keeffe.
A few steps down the street is Artamo Gallery. Established in 2005, the gallery features original contemporary art by national and international mid-career artists. Their work includes paintings, sculpture, works on paper, or in mixed media.
Lunch at Bella Vista on the grounds of the Four Seasons overlooking the beach and anchorage. Bella Vista showcases organic, Italian-inspired California coastal cuisine.
Santa Barbara has a colorful history of Spanish/Mexican heritage. Our first historical stop is at the Mission Santa Barbara, established on December 4, 1786 and known as “Queen of the Missions.” It was the 10th of 21 California missions founded by the Spanish Franciscans. Today it’s home to a community of Franciscan friars, and the structures and grounds are preserved in historical accuracy.
Next we visit Casa De La Guerra, at the heart of Santa Barbara history, since it was constructed in 1819 by Jose de la Guerra. The Casa was the social, political, and cultural center of the pueblo of Santa Barbara, now preserved in its near original state.
Cast off before dark for a sunset cruise along the Santa Barbara coast, arriving into Marina Del Rey, 70 nm away, later at night.
Day 6: Marina Del Rey
Marina Del Rey has good access to the greater Los Angeles area. We again start our day with a focus on art, with the first stop at the J Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa in Malibu. The Villa houses approximately 44,000 works of art from the museum’s extensive collection of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities, of which over 1,200 are on view. A few miles away is the Getty Center. This facility houses European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and European and American photographs.
We then shift over to The Huntington, one of the world’s great cultural, research, and educational centers founded in 1919. There are diverse areas of interest, starting with the extraordinary library collection of rare books and manuscripts in British and American history. The Huntington Art Gallery contains one of the most comprehensive collections of 18th- and 19th-century British and French art. It serves as home to Gainsborough’s Blue Boy and Lawrence’s Pinkie. The Botanical Gardens cover 120 acres, with a dozen specialized gardens arranged within a park-like landscape of rolling lawns. Among the most remarkable are the Desert Garden, the Japanese Garden, the Rose Garden, and the Chinese garden.
Lunch at one of the finest sushi restaurants in the world, Nobu Matsuhisa.
We then head into the Hollywood hills to the center of the entertainment industry: VIP touring of Disney and/or Universal Studios.
Back to the yacht for an afternoon freshening up, before heading out to sample the legendary LA nightlife. Dinner in Beverly Hills at Spago, an iconic destination that is consistently recognized internationally as the ultimate in fine dining. The menu includes Spago classics and a daily changing selection of fish and meats with Italian and Asian influences. After dinner we are off to the best of the Hollywood nightclubs to suit your preferences.
Day 7: San Diego
Motor down the coast near shore to take in the coastline, arriving into San Diego in the PM hours, as it’s 110 nm away. Dinner ashore at Searsucker, in the heart of the Gaslamp quarter and serving new American Classic cuisine.
Day 8: San Diego
Start the day with a tour of the U.S. Navy SEAL base in Coronado for insight into this elite military unit.
Scripps Institute for Oceanography is next on the agenda, one of the most renowned ocean-research facilities in the world. Our private tour guide will take us into the heart of the facility for a peek at cutting-edge research.
Break for lunch at the rooftop terrace at George’s, enjoying incredible view of the La Jolla coast and California Modern cuisine in perfection.
After lunch we head over to Balboa Park, a large urban park with a variety of world-class museums. Timken Museum of Art is considered one of the great small museums of the world, housing the world-class Putnam Foundation Collection of European old-master paintings, American paintings, and Russian icons. The other notable place to visit is the Air and Space Museum, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and housing a collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft from around the world.
Day 9: San Diego
A visit to San Diego would not be complete without experiencing The Drive. Your onboard chef prepares a picnic lunch and snacks for the road. By luxury vehicle we head to Coronado to start the day with a walk on the beach, voted the finest beach in the USA this year. We then hop in the car and drive 64 miles to the historic mountain town of Julian, nearly a mile high. After a stroll around town, we head up the road 35 miles to the top of Mount Palomar, at 5,600 feet elevation and home to the 200-inch reflecting telescope. After a picnic in the mountains, we head down into the desert town of Borrego Springs, 46 miles away and elevation 597 feet. The change in climate and ecosystem between the mountains and desert is remarkable. We finish The Drive by heading back to San Diego, completing the full loop, taking in beach, mountains, and desert.
Dinner aboard and departure out of San Diego the following morning.
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