Just over a sweeping bridge from San Diego, lies Coronado Island, where Balboa's water playground stretches uninterrupted toward the horizon, shimmering like iridescent turquoise taffeta.

Coronado is technically a peninsula with a long, slender causeway parallel to the shore as it reaches ten miles almost to Mexico. The residents like to think of the large piece of land lying just off San Diego as an island because it's accessed by bridge or ferry boat.