SeaWorld San Diego began with a plan that never happened. In 1964, four UCLA graduates wanted to open an underwater restaurant in Mission Bay. The restaurant idea sank, so they built a 22-acre marine zoological park instead — one that drew over 400,000 visitors in its first year.

Today the park sprawls across more than 100 acres on the shores of Mission Bay, featuring marine animals, roller coasters, and seasonal events. It sits within one of the world's great aquatic playgrounds: Mission Bay Park, the country's largest aquatic park, with 27 miles of shoreline and around 15 million visitors a year.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours of San Diego pass SeaWorld as part of routes through Mission Bay, placing the park in the context of a bay built entirely for recreation. It also traces how four men with a failed restaurant concept accidentally helped shape San Diego's identity as a destination.