Duffy Boats and John Wayne Tables in Newport Beach

If you are in the Newport Area you should take an afternoon and rent a Duffy  Boat!  Newport Harbor has 7 residential islands and over 10,000 private boats anchored in its waters. Duffy Boats make up 2,000 of them and are one of the most popular boats in the harbor. They are small electric boats perfect for a family’s outing or they are rented for special events like birthday parties, anniversaries, corporate events or bridal showers.  

Once we got our boat and had pushed off of the dock – I was struck by how many “points of interest” and celebrity stories there were in this harbor!  Some of the must-see highlights of the harbor are John Wayne’s former residences, Harbor Island where some of the most expensive and prestigious homes are and Balboa Island where be pulled over and docked. 

Balboa Island has great shops, restaurants and a boardwalk with a Ferris wheel that the kids and I enjoyed a ride on. Once we had done our twirl through the harbor and had seen all of the spots, we docked at The Cannery restaurant.  Rumor is The Cannery was John Wayne’s favorite restaurant - they still have a table referred to as the John Wayne table.

Although it doesn’t look like much from the outside, The Cannery’s story is a long one with many colorful characters.   It shares 90 years of American history starting as the first commercial fish cannery in 1921 built along the Rhine Channel.  In 1934 Western Canners took over the plant and was canning fish by hand at a rate of 400 cases a day – can you imagine?   The Cannery has had an interesting past and in this last decade has operated as a restaurant, keeping the original bones of the building and staying true to its proud history.  It’s worth the stop – excellent views, delicious seafood and the wait staff was great!