On Final day of our visit to San Diego, we planned to visit USS Marine Museum which is around the harbor and close to PortVillage. After having exciting times in Old Town, Downtown, Beaches, Sea World and San Diego Zoo we wanted to conclude the trip with much talked museum in the city. And it was amazing to such a different place. The facts shared in this post would amaze you with the scale and beauty of this place.
We reached around the harbor early in the morning and the museum opens at 10am. During this time we just walked around the harbor. Mornings in San Diego are beautiful and lot of folks can be seen doing jogging around the harbor line.
There are various interesting ships around the harbor line. There is this ship called ’Star of India’ which can be seen around the Harbor. This ship was built in 1863 and was retired in 1926. Later in 1962, restoration work started and now it’s a museum ship. This one is the oldest ship still sailing regularly and also the oldest iron-hulled merchant ship still floating. While we were walking around, this museum was also closed and we noticed few folks who were actively busy in maintenance.
While we were walking around the museum, we noticed a huge cruise ship parked around the harbor. There were good number of security folks around the ship and some of the families were checking-in, while some folks were coming out of the cruise. So far, I haven’t experienced any cruise and a closer look at this one made me curious about the experiences one gets on a cruise.
Finally it was time to enter this huge museum which is actually in a ship - Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum. There were lot of school kids in the queue to enter into the museum. We loved the fact that museum has a provision to keep your luggage in clock-room and take it back when you want to exit the museum. There are no charges if you have one bag to keep there. This really made our experience convenient & more delightful.
There are different kinds of sections in the ship. On entering into the ship, you hit it's main floor and there are few floors down that floor and few above. There are plenty of airplanes on display along with their respective history. Some of these were also used in World War 2. A movie is also shown to the visitors and I recommend to watch this movie before exploring the museum. This movie sets right context about Midway Aircraft Carries museum and how this huge ship was used in different battles against Japanese troops in the ocean.
Above photograph shows the main control room of the lower section of the ship and these are statues installed on seats. Machinery around is original.
Above photograph shows the main control room of the lower section of the ship and these are statues installed on seats. Machinery around is original.
At some of the important places in museum, there are volunteers to explain you some of the components of the ship. If I remember correctly, this was the place to monitor water pressure, direction in which ship is moving, any obstacles, air pressure etc. If you have studied science well, you will be able to correlate to some of the measures written inside these monitoring equipments.
There are various decks on the ship and many airplanes are also placed on these. There are few planes inside as well. Top of the ship is full of planes and helicopters. And as I mentioned, many of them are used in different battles.
There is a photograph of one of the helicopters on the top of the ship. Interiors show that it's been used extensibly and lot of the components are in bad shape now. Lot of folks come inside to get photograph clicked and move on.
From top of the of the ship, it offers brilliant views of San Diego city. Above photograph shows the popular trolley in San Diego. These Trolley tours are little expensive but you find them around most of the popular places in San Diego. They have different stops across the city to pick and drop tourists. I think this one was close to the downtown & harbor.
There is a cafe on Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum which serves good meal options and drinks. We had our brunch there and it was good, but little expensive. Close to the cafe, there is a merchandize shop where you can find various things related to the museum and stuff for various age groups is available. We didn't buy anything as we found it expensive :) .
Close to the Midway museum there is this memorial ground with various statues of army folks from the past. In above photograph you can see Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum in the background. Do notice the airplanes on the top of Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum. 
Unconditional surrender statue is pretty close to Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum and clearly visible from the deck. You may want to check out the link to know more about this statue and why you see these in different parts of US.
Above photograph shows the ticket counter and the entry queue starts from here. This photograph was shot early in the morning when ticket counters were not open yet and staff was gearing up for the show.
Here is a photograph of World War 2 veteran. Lot of folks were interacting with him and he had some interesting stories to tell about Midway Aircraft Carrier and how it was used in different sensitive situations. There was long queue of people who wanted to talk to him. He was extremely passionate about the things he has done and it was clear from his description of events. Lot of folks get selfies with him.
After taking a look at all this, it seemed like top officers of the ship used to have luxury setup when it comes to the places where they used to stay, work or eat. Huge space on the space was allocated to these officers. Conference rooms, meeting areas were also well equipped with appropriate accessories.
This museum is huge, so it would be better if you can plan a day for the same. But if you have a tight schedule, plan one half of the day for visiting Midway Museum in San Diego.
Above is the photograph showing the place where sick people on the ship take rest and get treatment. It's essentially hospital inside the ship which has doctor rooms close by.
Above photograph shows model depicting doctors doing a surgery on the ship. It was impressive to see the ship well equipped with all infrastructure to take care of emergencies on the ship.
On this museum, administration has done a great job at showcasing the life in such a ship when it's in ocean for months. There are different sections where you see where officers have their meals vs other staff members, medical facilities. Cabins where officers work and some of the officers get their personal cooks to serve specialized meals on order. There is a huge area where most of the staff members eat together. Play areas, bunkers, break areas etc. It's pretty interesting to experience all this and it can be more exciting for kids.
There is a lot that I can share in this post about this museum but it makes more sense to plan a visit there and witness things yourself. It's must visit place in San Diego in my opinion and if you have kids along, don't even think of missing it.
If you liked this post and found it helpful, I would request you to follow these things when traveling -
1. Manage your waste well and don’t litter Use dustbins.
2. Tell us if you went to a place and found it hard to locate a dustbin.
3. Avoid bottle waters in hills. Usually you get clean water in hills and water bottles create lot of mess in our ecosystem.
4. Say big no to plastic and avoid those unhealthy snacks packed in plastic bags. Rather buy fruits.
5. Don't play loud blaring music in forests of jungle camps. You are a guest in that ecosystem and disturbing the locals (humans and animals) is not polite
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