Mission Bay Park (sandiego.gov/park-and-recreation), half waterfront and half water, is the place to go for water sports. This area offers everything from kayaking to water skiing, sailing and kite surfing. If you want to charter a fishing or sailing excursion, the is the place to do it. Kite flying is popular in Mission Bay Park, beach volleyball is big on Fiesta Island, and there’s delightful cycling and inline skating on the miles of bike paths.
Mission Beach has a classic beachside boardwalk with a vintage roller coaster, midway games, restaurants and beach bars at the hundred-year-old Belmont Park (belmontpark.com). Admission is free, and each ride or game is paid individually.
Although hotels, boatyards and other businesses dot about one-quarter of the land, it feels wide open. Fun fact: Spanish explorers called this expanse at the mouth of the San Diego River "False Bay" – it formed a shallow bay when the river flowed and a marshy swamp when it didn’t. After WWII, a combination of civic vision and coastal engineering turned it into a recreational area.
