everythingzoomer.com SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 (^) – 73
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) SO-CAL COOLIN’ IT
/ SAN DIEGO
The world is spinning. In a
strip mall in a liquor store –
but I haven’t overindulged.
Just for a moment, a James-
Bondian moment, it’s go-
ing round, from one world
to another. One minute,
I’m in a wooden armchair
leaning against the wall
by a faux fireplace, admir-
ing the selection of spirits.
The next, the wall spins in-
ward, on a half turn. Voilà!
A secret, a hidden speak-
easy with a circular bar, dim
lighting just so, conversa-
tion humming. I’m at Raised
By Wolves, in La Jolla, just
north of San Diego.
The birthplace of
California, San
Diego is un-
abashedly cele-
brating its
250th birth-
day this year, yet
the city is also ex-
periencing a rebirth
of these once-forbidden
dens of whiskey-soaked con-
viviality. Underground cav-
erns, through hippy-dippy
beaded curtains, behind
spinning walls, even shrunk-
en head-lined corridors (at
one, False Idol, they’ve cot-
toned onto the tiki bar trend
as well), it’s a game of hide-
and-seek that everyone gets
to play.
And play we do because
what’s a birthday without it?
It’s San Diego, after all, and
that means taking in this
town’s natural beauty,
where practically every day
is a perfect 24 C. A clear day
calls for a hike above the
city, to the top of Presidio
Hill in Old Town, where it all
started in 1769. I discover
the Junipero Serra
Museum, which is named
after Father Serra, a
Franciscan friar and the
founder of California’s first
mission, right here on this
spot. For the uninitiated, the
state was built around its 21
Catholic missions on a trail
that starts here and
meanders all the way to San
Francisco. The building, built
in the 1920s, is a nod to
mission architecture, its
whitewashed exterior^
SAILING AWAY / BAHAMAS
I’ve just opened my eyes, and I’m looking straight up into
a cloudless sky. The yellow-orange rays, just breaking the
dawn, are mingling with the blue, streaming through the
skylight. Slowly, in a way that nature does, I’m rising with
the sun. I’ve slept seven hours – straight. The grey, sunless
winter of 2019 took its toll on me, the lack of vitamin D
draining my energy and making me restless. For months.
I’m on a boat. Yet, it’s not just any boat. It’s a catama-
ran, built for cruising but on a very intimate level. The
Moorings, to which this catamaran belongs, has been
chartering yachts all over the world since 1969, everything
from sail-it-yourself bareboat yachts to all-inclusive – and
staffed with a captain and a chef – power yachts, like the
Moorings 5800 double decker we’re sailing.
We’re in the Bahamas, and today I really do feel it’s better
here. The plan is to sail from Nassau to the Exumas, one of
the many chains of lesser-travelled islands that make up
the archipelago. The ship features five cabins with ensuite
baths, two cosy suites above deck and three larger suites
below, along with crew quarters. Each cabin has closets and
cubbys to store clothes, shoes, luggage. Not that we really
need much of anything. My mother would be laughing – I
never wore shoes if I could help it. A good thing, as from the
minute I’m on board, the shoes come off, and I’m at home.
The feeling of peeling off the layers and simply putting on
a swimsuit and going barefoot, a luxury in itself – the sun
and the sea breeze on my skin, a tonic that mixes well with
my psyche.
Afternoon gin and tonics on the upper deck by our captain,
Will, didn’t hurt either. He’d mix us up something tropical,
then set sail while our chef, Nicole, would prep healthy
snacks. The daily menu would be discussed at breakfast,
and it was varied and healthy: ocean-fresh fish and seafood,
barbecued steaks, loads of veggies and fruits, vegetarian
and vegan options. Midway through the trip, Will asked if
we liked lobster. Yes, sir. Later that day, he arrived, after
taking the dinghy for a spin, holding up a pair of large spiny
crustaceans, sporting a grin almost as big. He’d set out traps
the night before and struck it rich.
Stop and take a dive off the back of the boat?
Why not? Snorkel into the grotto where
scenes from Thunderball were shot or
explore an underwater reef created by
a sunken DC10 airplane? Yes, please.
An animal lover? How’d you like to try
swimming with the pigs that make their
home at Staniel Cay? I laughed out loud,
splashing around with these amazing
creatures while tossing them carrots. How
about an up-close feeding on Allen’s Cay with the
endangered Northern Bahamian rock iguanas, found only
here? On that beach, Nicole fed birds out of her hand, while
they perched on her fingers. Pure joy. http://www.moorings.com
Mission Basilica
San Diego de
Alcalá, San Diego
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