If the San Diego Bay Parade of Lights starts at Shelter Island, why does its own route map warn that the boats can't come very close to Shelter Island?
The moored sailboats along the island's bayside are the reason. The parade starts on the peninsula and stays a little offshore. That is a useful picture of the whole Point Loma holiday season this year. The events with fixed dates happen on promenades, lawns and shoreline that were here long before 2026. The biggest new project at Liberty Station won't be ready this December, and the restaurants announced for the Shelter Island waterfront are still hard to plan around. If you live here, planning the season comes down to knowing which addresses are actually open.
Seven Dates in Under Four Weeks
The peninsula's calendar starts the night after Thanksgiving and ends the Sunday before Christmas. Here is the sequence, using the dates published for 2026:
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Fri., Nov. 27, 5 to 9 p.m. | Liberty Station Tree Lighting & Festivities | North Promenade, Liberty Station |
| Sat. and Sun., Nov. 28 and 29 | San Diego Made Holiday Market | NTC Park, 2705 Cushing Rd. |
| Fri., Dec. 4 | Hanukkah and Menorah Lighting | Central Promenade, Liberty Station |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | OB Holiday Parade | Ocean Beach |
| Sun., Dec. 13 and Sun., Dec. 20, 5:30 p.m. | San Diego Bay Parade of Lights | Starts at Shelter Island |
The first two weeks happen inland at Liberty Station. The last two happen on the water. The weekend in between belongs to Ocean Beach, where the OB Holiday Parade has run for more than 40 years.
Liberty Station Carries the First Half
The season begins at the old Naval Training Center grounds. Visit San Diego's 2026 holiday guide lists the Liberty Station Tree Lighting & Holiday Festivities on Friday, Nov. 27, from 5 to 9 p.m. on the North Promenade. Liberty Station calls it the main event of its Salute the Season programming.
The next morning, the San Diego Made Holiday Market opens at NTC Park, 2705 Cushing Rd. It brings more than 175 local makers, plus food trucks, photo booths and kids' activities. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 29. The market sells tickets through its site, so buy them before you walk over.
A week later, on Friday, Dec. 4, Liberty Station and the Chabads of Downtown San Diego and Pacific Beach host a public menorah lighting on the Central Promenade for the first night of Hanukkah.
Between those dates there's a quieter stop. "Will You Stay Here for a Moment?", an exhibition by Denja Harris at Visions Museum of Textile Art, runs through Dec. 5, according to the Liberty Station events calendar. The tree lighting crowd fills the North Promenade, and the gallery is a few minutes' walk away inside the same complex.
The Hilltop Behind the Tree Isn't Ready
Liberty Station's most anticipated hospitality project will not be part of the holiday season. It may not be part of next year's either.
The Admiral at Naval Training Center would turn the 1920s officers' quarters on the hilltop above Rosecrans into a five-building complex. Restaurateur Ryan Thorsen, who owns Mister A's, is behind it. As of the San Diego Union-Tribune's August 2026 report, the $20 million project had not broken ground. Thorsen expected a groundbreaking before the end of 2026, and the city's Economic Development Department hoped to bring a proposed lease to the City Council by year's end.
According to the Union-Tribune, the first phase is gardens, parking and three of the officers' quarters buildings, targeted for fall 2027. The event venue would follow a few months later, and the old gatehouse near the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center would come last, with everything done by the end of 2028.
The plans have a strong local thread. Quarters D would become an all-day marketplace with a wine bar, a bakery and a floral shop, where you could pick up food for a picnic on the grounds. Designer Jason St. John of Bells + Whistles grew up in Point Loma. He told the Union-Tribune he pictured it as "a Portuguese-style mercado." Quarters C would be a 1960s-themed game room with bocce and cornhole on the lawn. The signature restaurant, still unnamed, would seat 162. Thorsen says its American menu would take inspiration from Point Loma's fishing heritage.
This year, the tree on the promenade is the main event.
The Second Half Starts on the Water
The 56th annual San Diego Bay Parade of Lights runs on Sundays, Dec. 13 and Dec. 20, starting at 5:30 p.m. both nights. This year's theme is "Liberty Lights the Bay – Cheers to 250 Years!" The Port of San Diego presents the parade, which the organizers say brings about 80 decorated boats and more than 100,000 spectators to the bay each year.
Point Loma has the opening stretch of the route. Here is how the boats leave the peninsula, according to the official route notes:
- They start at the south end of Shelter Island at 5:30 p.m.
- They run south to north along the island. Because of moored boats, they can't come very close to shore.
- They cross the America's Cup Harbor entrance to the west end of Harbor Island.
- They continue along Harbor Island toward the Embarcadero, Seaport Village and the Pier at Chicano Park, then cross to Coronado and finish at the Coronado Ferry Landing.
Organizers say the parade takes about an hour to pass any given point. The live commentary on each boat happens elsewhere. The two announcer stations are at the Maritime Museum on the Embarcadero and at Coronado Landing.
From Shelter Island, you see the parade at its start, with the boats running the length of the island before anyone downtown sees them. Because they stay a bit offshore, a spot along the open bayside of the island works better than one tucked behind the marinas. Shelter Island Shoreline Park, at 2200 Shelter Island Drive, runs along the bayside of the island and is open 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. according to the Port of San Diego. At the end of the island, the Port lists the Yokohama Friendship Bell, and Fathom Bistro, Bait and Tackle sits on the pier nearby.
Parking on a Parade Sunday
The parade site warns that parking is limited around the bay and recommends arriving early. The Port's free parking list shows how Shelter Island's free spaces break down:
- Shoreline Park, 2200 Shelter Island Drive: 444 spaces in lots
- In front of Bali Hai, 2230 Shelter Island Drive: 270 spaces in a lot and on the street
- Shelter Island Boat Launch Ramp, 2210 Shelter Island Drive: 212 spaces in lots
- Shelter Island Drive by the Harbor Police docks: 121 street spaces
- Next to the Brigantine, 2725 Shelter Island Drive: 102 spaces in a lot
- Next to Kohler Craft, 2240 Shelter Island Drive: 68 spaces in a lot
- Anchorage Lane by the San Diego Yacht Club: 36 street spaces
The lots are free, but metered spaces are not. The Port says its meters are paid from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily except holidays, and a Dec. 13 or Dec. 20 start at 5:30 p.m. falls inside that window. Check the posted signs wherever you park.
Dinner Before the Boats
Parade-night dinner on the peninsula will look much like any other December here. Bali Hai, at 2230 Shelter Island Drive, takes reservations and serves lunch, dinner, brunch and lounge menus. Point Loma Seafoods, at 2805 Emerson Street, lists daily hours of 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Humphreys Half Moon Inn has Humphreys SoCAL Dining & Music and Backstage LIVE on the water.
The two newest names on this stretch are still harder to plan around. Corallino, a coastal Italian restaurant from the Cesarina team of Cesarina Mezzoni, Niccolò Angius and Giuseppe Capasso, was announced by San Diego Magazine in November 2025 for 1101 Scott Street, with a target of the following spring. By May 2026, the San Diego Tourism Authority had moved that target to summer 2026 and described a menu built on regional seafood and an in-house dried pasta program. Call ahead before you plan a parade night around it.
The Boatyard is going into the former Fiddler's Green site, which WhatNow lists at 2760 Shelter Island Drive. According to San Diego Magazine, the owners are Cal and Jan Muir, Spencer Moran and Whitney Eckis, with Eric Galley of CH Projects consulting, and the plan is a seafood-and-steak restaurant with a speakeasy. The menu page on the restaurant's website still says "Coming Soon."
When the first boats leave the south end of Shelter Island on Dec. 13, Bali Hai, Point Loma Seafoods and Humphreys are the dinner tables with posted menus and hours.
If you're one of my neighbors on the peninsula and want to know how the holiday weeks affect a sale or a move in early 2027, Valerie Zatt can talk it through with you. Request a complimentary home valuation, and I'll show you what your Point Loma home is worth heading into the new year.
