Our beloved Yawl JADA has hosted it all this Covid summer from birthday parties and wedding celebrations to family reunions. On a 3 hour tour, our guests decide which course to take. San Diego Bay offers the worlds largest bait barge with marine life encounters, navy ships and home to one of the finest Maritime Museums in the world. A turn around at the Coronado bridge has us tacking our way back to port. Some may want to go beyond the bay, sailing out past Point Loma to the beautiful views of the deep blue Pacific ocean. With downtown at our backs and the Mexico Islands on the horizon, we let you Captain your own ship. Sail Jada for the historic adventure of being a sailor and using the wind and compass as your guide. We are here to share our passion for sailing and welcoming you aboard the magnificent sailing yacht JADA!
Sun-shining days in the port of San Diego; We set sail to celebrate two families coming together. Loved ones from near and far brought their own excitement for two newly weds as “This has been a long time coming”. The wind was in our favor, champagne toasts were being shared and lively music had everyone practicing their sea legs. There were delicious sandwiches from the local harbor deli & multiple flavors of drinks to wash them down with. It was a beautiful experience to see everyone so happy & blessed to be spending the day on the water of San Diego Bay.
Make it a romantic evening to remember aboard the beautiful Jada, a 65-foot wooden sailing vessel complete with classic lines and a teak interior, as you and your sweetheart cruise through San Diego Bay and enjoy champagne, beer or wine, along with hors d’ouevres and pastries. This 2.5-hour excursion is helmed by an experienced and friendly captain and crew, who’ll give you a smooth ride and show you the gorgeous San Diego skyline, sea life and more. They’ll also provide a professional photographer, so you can relax and still get all the best shots from your sure-to-be-special sunset on the water.
Today isn’t the first time I’ve been on a sailboat, but it’s the first time to be on one with such a colorful history. JADA, docked at the Sheraton Marina on Harbor Island, is a 65-foot survivor. The only authentic classic wooden sailing yacht for charter in San Diego, She was built in 1938 as a graduation gift for a not-so-wayward son. $28,000 at that time translates to over $3 million to recreate her today. Greats like John Wayne, Bogart and Bacall (while they were having an affair and barred from the yacht club) walked her decks. She’s no sissy either. Built to race to Hawaii and beyond to Tahiti, she’s not tethered to the Pacific shores of California. She’s even weathered a major hurricane. A sailboat cutting through calm water in the harbor is a weightless experience. Silent. To be on the water, spirited only by the wind is extraordinary. If only the marine layer hadn’t staggered around the horizon and clung to land like a drunk without a jacket, I wouldn’t have needed mine. It dropped the temps to chilly. I sought sunny spots on the deck to stay warm and watch for whales. The crew served snacks, offered sea-sick meds to those in need, sunscreen, beer, water, sodas and white wine. I stayed with water, no need teasing the digestive tempest that a wake-crashing sail boat could awaken. The enthusiastic crew took turns telling the history of Naval operations on Coronado, Top Gun take offs, the whales and dolphins which the military trained near Point Loma. I had wondered why they trained these ocean mammals and would never, ever have guessed they made guards out of these warm-blooded vertebrates. They train them to scour the harbor and detect deep water divers or mobilized intruders that threaten the military installation. I’d never considered an underwater attack approach threat, but divers, submarines and smaller depth craft could be as destructive as the bombers that leveled Pearl Harbor with today’s technology. Once we were on the high seas beyond the bay, our whale watch began in earnest. A marine biologist was aboard as part of the crew and made their migration into an engaging story. Because of her, I saw the white spots on the whale’s back not as psoriasis, but scars left from the barnacles that lived until they died there, to become crumbs along the migration trail’s ocean floor. It is stirring to hear a whale breathe, see the spray, feel its exhale, watch its fluke wave as it dives deep. Unleashed power on a south bound migration. We passed by several whales and I was proud the crew didn’t turn the boat and chase them. JADA is a class act. Carole, the owner, visited with us, told stories and topped off a fascinating day aboard a legend of the seas. A day of adventure, interesting people, places and things can be experienced on your own. Don’t stay at home unless you truly want to. I didn’t board or disembark JADA with a date, but it was a wonderful experience I enjoyed as JADA herself became my date. Even if dementia melts it away one day, I will have savored the encounter.
Oh my, oh my, oh my gooooodness! We are so excited we are beside ourselves! The biggest event of the year in San Diego is on the horizon. Just pick up your spyglass and point it to the west and you will see the masts of a fleet of tall ships rising in the distance, soon to arrive at the Big Bay! YES, the Festival of Sail is coming this Labor Day Weekend. Check out the website here Maritime Museum to see the best place to be Labor Day weekend in San Diego. The Parade of Tall Ships happens on Thursday August 31 from 11 til 3pm. There are locations all around the bay to view the Parade of Tall Ships from the shore, but we all know that the very best seats are on board JADA, as she takes her place in the parade. So join us for the parade of a lifetime as we open the big event. Call now as we always sell out for this event. Snacks and drinks are provided, just come prepared to have a grand time. Bring your friends and family for the very best view in the world of our own San Diego Tall ships, our famous visiting ships and the highly anticipated San Salvador. Oh, and plan to stop by and say hello to JADA, her crew and our exceptional family of friends and JADA Alumnae. We will be open daily for tours and will sail each day on the bay for the cannon battles and the twilight sails. Visit Don Telford’s Photography site for more images of this year’s Tall Ship Festival. Come see all the tall sail boats of old!
We’re about to enter our second full season of whale watching adventures in San Diego. Last year we were able to spot and sail with whales on nearly every charter. There was one outing where we didn’t spot whales, but we did cruise along with a small pod of dolphins. We see a variety of sea life on every charter. The most common are birds and sea lions. We make it a point on most outings to cruise by the bait barges where there are usually dozens of sea lions lounging in the sun. We will be doing whale watching tours every Saturday beginning in January and running through March. Please see our calendar here for all of the dates and times. You can click on the date / time of any outing and get more details about the tour. We hope that you and your friends can join us soon for one of these exciting adventures!
Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sail Jada Charters LLC Receives 2016 San Diego Award San Diego Award Program Honors the Achievement SAN DIEGO May 18, 2016 — Sail Jada Charters LLC has been selected for the 2016 San Diego Award in the Tours & Excursions category by the San Diego Award Program. Each year, the San Diego Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the San Diego area a great place to live, work and play. Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2016 San Diego Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the San Diego Award Program and data provided by third parties. About San Diego Award Program The San Diego Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the San Diego area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value. The San Diego Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in our community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to recognize the small business community’s contributions to the U.S. economy. SOURCE: San Diego Award Program
Last Saturday gave us a break in the previously rainy weather, and was mostly clear and not too chilly. The seas were a bit rough, but everyone stayed dry as we headed out looking for gray whales just off Point Loma. We were not disappointed, as less than an hour into the voyage we spotted three whales only a few miles offshore. We stayed with them for quite awhile and got lots of great pictures. Here you can see much of the back of one of these amazing mammals as he / she (I can’t tell!) blows air and some water vapor, getting ready to take another breath and dive again. This is a very nice picture with the San Diego skyline visible behind the whale. Shortly into the viewing of the first three whales, two more joined the group and traveled in the same direction. Here are a few more pictures from this outing: This whale is preparing to dive a bit deeper into the water. How do we know this? Well, prior to a deeper dive the whales arch their back more and often show their tail as they angle more steeply down. Here’s another whale thoughtfully positioning herself so as to frame downtown in the background. The wind was not real cooperative during the whale watching portion of the tour, but we were able to spend some quiet time sailing on the way back in. see our calendar
We have received some great guest feedback from the San Diego Festival of Sail that was held a few weeks ago, one of our guests, Judy, took some great photos for Sail JADA and of the other Tall Ships in the San Diego Bay. She wrote us up this great review of her sailing tour and sent us the photos too: Two friends & I booked a passage on the JADA for the Tall Ship Parade, held as part of the San Diego Maritime Museum’s annual Festival of Sail. The JADA is a 65′ Philip Rhodes Yawl. We left the dock and motored out a bit while the crew were putting up the sails. It’s always exciting for me to see the sail go up and the engine turned off, and today was no exception. It was a wonderful feeling to be sailing and heading out to sea to take our place in the parade. All the boats in the parade were to line up outside of Pt. Loma lighthouse. The star of the parade was the newly launched San Salvador (replica of Juan Cabrillo’s ship. It was exciting to be able to be a part of this parade and especially loved sailing on this beautiful classic sailing vessel, JADA. The owner, Carole, was a wonderful guide and shared information about landmarks we were sailing by and other boats we passed. She also kept us happy with snacks and drinks. We had a perfect day for the parade, decent winds and good company. Several of the other ships held mock battles, and all of us on the JADA encouraged them when we were near. As we sailed into the San Deigo Bay, a quick look back at the entrance to the bay showed a large community of boats of all sizes were following the parade. Quite a tribute to the beautiful San Salvador. While the tall ship parade only happens once a year, we are lucky enough in San Diego to have the JADA here all the time. If you want to experience a sail on this classic vessel, check their web site for scheduled sails. Or better yet, get a group of friends together and charter the boat. Thanks Carole, Captain Jim Mueller and the crew for a wonderful afternoon sailing on the San Diego Bay. Judy Thank you Judy for sailing with us, we hope to see you out with us again. If you’d like to see more of Judy’s pictures, click here to see her blog.