San Diego's Big Bay Whale Fest

The greys are migrating and the on-shore partying has begun.

WE WANT THIS: You know how you can be reading something on the internet and all of a sudden you read words that potentially change your life, or at least set you to thinking you need to change things up? That was what happened to us when we swung the the Big Bay Whale Festival's web site. We knew about this San Diego-cute family party, a water-close hoedown that happens plunk in the middle of Port Pavilion on on the Broadway Pier. But we did not know there will be a walk-through whale, which has us dreaming of having our own walk-through whale one day (it makes us think a bit of Monstro from "Pinocchio"; you, too?). But the (not-real) on-land whale is just one draw for this family festivity. Kid-nice activities, tunes, and other to-dos round out the day.

DATE AND DETAILS... And that day is Saturday, Jan. 26. It's a free happening, too, and people looking to make a sea-focused kind of day of it should also look into the partnership that the Big Bay Whale Festival has on with places like USS Midway Museum and the Maritime Museum of San Diego. Enjoy kidly fun on the pier, complete with a swaggering pirate named Captain Sam Diego (yup), and and take in some history in the local museums.

GETTING OUT ON THE WATER: Going on a whale-watching cruise is pretty much a quintessential SoCal winter event. There are a number of outfits around San Diego that take people out on the water. Here are a few.

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