Lovely Santa Barbara!

Day 5 – 7 October 2026 – Santa Barbara, CA, USA

 

Today our ship anchored in the harbor and we took the tenders in to town – it seems that Santa Barbara either doesn’t have or doesn’t want a large pier and cruise terminal right in town.  However, since we were anchored quite a way outside the harbor, we had some large swells and there were pauses in helping passengers into the life boats used as tenders!  This definitely delayed our getting ashore, and it was already a very short day.  Oh well, life at sea means being prepared for changes.

 

Our tenders dropped us at a small dock near a marina, so I wandered across the nearby beach to dip my toes in the Pacific Ocean.  Chilly water, especially since it was such a nice sunny day!  Mission number one completed!

 

I found a couple of mosaics embedded in the sidewalk near the marina, and had to take photos.  They were a great introduction to this artsy town!

 

I only had about two hours in town, given the delays getting in and the early departure.  But Santa Barbara has a free bus around town – or maybe a free bus service for cruise ships.  There were four stops on the bus: down near the marina; in town near the information center; farther into town at the historic courthouse, one of the oldest in the US (or something like that); and near the train station, which just happens to be across the street from the information center!

 

One of the friendly welcome volunteers said that the info center was a good place to pick up postcards, which was the other item on my to-do list.  She added that the info center was a few doors up from the best ice cream spot in town, so of course, now I had TWO items on that list to accomplish!

 

I rode the free bus through to stop number three, figuring this way I’d see both the old Spanish mission as well as the courthouse, which was a lovely building.  Most of Santa Barbara seemed to be built in the traditional Spanish Southwest style, a lot of clean lines, light colored cement or stucco, arched windows, and terra cotta tiled roofs.  Lots of palm trees and brightly colored flowers and buses.  Spanish and Mexicans style tiles here and there, and a few corners with hand-painted scenic tile benches!  The town really is very charming, nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the Sierra Madre mountains – I think this would be a very nice place to live!

 

Once I finally made it to that information center (which has very clean restrooms!), I bought my postcards.  I received directions to McConnel’s Ice Cream – easy to find, since they have a big sign outside their shop saying “Yum!”

 

Oh my, SO many flavors to choose from!  The young lady said that the Dutch chocolate was a milk chocolate, so I opted for the single scoop with two flavors, the coffee (which had dark granules of ground coffee in it), and the espresso chip, also dark coffee with flakes of dark chocolate!  Yes, anyone who knows me realizes that these were fabulous ice cream flavors, and I was very happy to enjoy Santa Barbara’s world-famous ice cream!  (Really, Time magazine listed McConnel’s as “the best ice cream in the world.”  Or at least according to a sign in the shop.)

 

I walked back to the shuttle bus stop, and chatted with a few passengers from our ship.  A small bus came by, but was full.  By now it was after 1 PM, and we were told the last tender would be at 2 PM.  A number of us opted to walk the three-quarters of a mile back to the tender dock, given that it was a sunny and warm (but not sweltering hot) day. 

 

Of course, the large shuttle bus drove by as I was walking back, but oh well, it really wasn’t a major walk.  I managed to find bird of paradise flowers along my walk, as well as a sidewalk mosaic.

 

Then back to the ship in time for a late lunch, and maybe a little afternoon nap.  In actuality, I finished painting a calla lily I had started while waiting to be called for the tender.  And listened to a great jazz saxophonist a few decks above the atrium in which I was sitting.