On September 28, 1542, Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo and his crew became the first Europeans to the pass through an inlet which led them into what is now known as San Diego Bay. The next day, September 29th, the day on which Saint Michael the Archangel is honored, Cabrillo named the deep, wide waterway San Miguel Bay.
Sixty years later…
On November 10, 1602, Spanish explorer Sebastian Vizcaino and his crew sailed into San Miguel Bay. Two days later (November 12th), on the feast day honoring Saint Didacus de Alaca (St. Diego), Vizcaino renamed the water San Diego Bay. (Coincidentally, San Diego was also the name of Vizcaino’s flagship.) After San Francisco Bay and Humboldt Bay, San Diego Bay is the third largest naturally protected waterway on the 840 mile-long coastline of California. It is also one of the finest deep water harbors on the west coast of North America. The five cities that border the shoreline of San Diego Bay are Imperial Beach, Chula Vista, National City, Coronado, and San Diego.
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