With Shamu and other killer whales displaying their impressive acrobatic skills, this show is SeaWorld's best.

Upon discovering what we know today as San Diego, explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo deemed it "a very good enclosed port." The same spirit of discovery gripped my 3-year-old son on his first visit to the area some 460 years later.

"Nemo, where are you?" Drew called out as he studied a bank of aquariums at SeaWorld. "Where is Nemo? I don't see him." We were on our own voyage of discovery, exploring San Diego with our children for the first time. And since Drew has more experience with digital fish than live ones, it makes sense that he went in search of the star of Finding Nemo.

I don't know what Cabrillo would have made of SeaWorld, but I'm sure he would have labeled our hotel "a very good place of lodging." Rather than camp at Ballast Point where the 16th-century explorer probably came ashore, we landed at the Marriott San Diego Hotel and Marina. A two-room suite on the 17th floor became base camp for our own five-day expedition.

San Diego Hotel & Marina 619-234-1500 or www.marriott.com

Upon arriving, we were tempted to explore no further. With Starbucks in the lobby, a giant resort pool the kids wouldn't stop asking about, and four balconies outside our suite that offered sweeping views of the shimmering downtown skyline and a golden sunset across the harbor and Coronado Island, the hotel had everything we could have wanted.

The following morning, however, we left the comfort of the Marriott and boarded our own boat, the Point Loma, for an hour-long tour of San Diego bay. It was the first cruise of the day, and the boat was empty enough that we took command of a corner on the lower-level aft deck so the kids could roam and not bother anyone.

The bay is rich with interesting sights, from nuclear aircraft carriers to one of the world's oldest wooden sailing ships. But what captivated Laurel, Drew and Brooke was a bait barge and its reigning monarch, a large male sea lion perched on his front flippers and surveying his domain with his nose pointed regally in the air.

While a harbor cruise is one of the best ways to see San Diego Bay up close, the Cabrillo National Monument provides a differing, but equally impressive, perspective. Perched on a bluff at the mouth of the bay, it overlooks the downtown skyline and Coronado Island with its arching bridge and myriad naval installations. I stood for a while gazing at the scene before wandering through the museum and its informative displays about the explorer's travels, as well as life in California during the Spanish colonial period.

Our stop at the monument was little more than a detour en route to the tide pools on the Pacific side of the point. After scrambling down the rocks to the shore, the kids busied themselves with poking sea anemones, picking up rocks and dodging waves. Nobody asked where Sponge Bob was hiding.

The search for cartoon sea life was on, however, when we hit SeaWorld. It didn't take long to locate the missing clown fish, which was good, because I envisioned spending my day answering the question, "Daddy, how come we can't find Nemo?" Brooke, 2, joined Drew in his search and they spotted him in the next tank over.

Equally exciting for the kids were the animal shows. Even I was amazed. I remember seeing Shamu as a kid, and it's no less impressive today to watch a 9,000 pound mammal hurl itself out of the water, or let a trainer ride on its back without flipping him into the front row of spectators.

For all of its hype and spectacle, SeaWorld is also a great place for kids to experience sea life with their hands, not just their eyes. In between shows, we visited different attractions where Laurel, Drew and Brooke held live starfish, fed hungry dolphins and pet sleek bat rays that glided by.
As much as we had seen and done, we still weren't finished exploring San Diego. Tune in next month as we offer a second serving of adventure in San Diego.

Set Sail for San Diego
Stay
Marriott San Diego Hotel and Marina
619-234-1500 www.marriott.com

Play
San Diego Harbor Excursion
800-442-7847 www.sdhe.com
Cabrillo National Monument
619-557-5450 www.nps.gov/cabr/
SeaWorld
800-25-SHAMU www.seaworld.com

Eat
Santana's
619-226-2033 www.santanas.com