GOING MUSEUM-HOPPING IN SAN DIEGO.

Byline: Carol Bidwell Daily News Staff Writer

Tell people you're going to visit San Diego, and most will assume you'll spend your time swimming, boating, fishing, water skiing or just basking in the sun around the pool.

But the bustling city, which is also one of the state's most historic, boasts plenty of other things to do - sights guaranteed to keep your mind busy once you're body's tanned and tired. And any trip should include a visit to at least a couple of the town's many museums.

Balboa Park has a dozen, Old Town has four and others are sprinkled throughout the city - some fascinating, others meriting only a quick walk-through unless you're a particular fan of whatever the exhibits focus on.

With only a short time to spend on a recent trip, I ignored Balboa Park, where museum lovers could spend a week or more exploring. Instead, I tried to visit as many other museums as I could in just a few hours. The result was a fleeting recollection of some, a desire to return to others. Here are some of the most memorable:

San Diego Maritime Museum - If you think you feel the roll of the sea beneath your feet here, you're right. Only one of the three ships that make up the museum at the city's Embarcadero on San Diego Bay - the ferry boat Berkeley - is stationary. The sailing ship Star of India and the steam yacht Medea both ride at anchor, still able to hoist anchor and take to the high seas.

The yacht, built in 1904 to accommodate the millionaire owner's grouse- and deer-hunting parties in Scotland, is still outfitted as if teatime were fast approaching, with dainty furniture in the parlor and dining room. It sits alongside the ferry boat, built in 1898 to carry railroad passengers, commuters and tourists between Oakland and San Francisco. Now the ferry houses extensive maritime displays, from ships in bottles to large-size ship models and a glassed-in shop where you can watch a handful of model-makers at work.

A few yards down the Embarcadero floats the Star of India, with a ready staff of docents to explain how the ship, built in 1863, spent its life hauling cargo and passengers from London to New Zealand. Visitors can glimpse the restored captain's cabin, the ship doctor's surgery, the galley and other areas. It's hard to believe that as many as 400 steerage passengers made the journey in bunk beds scarcely 18 inches wide and five feet long.

The museum, at 1306 N. Harbor Drive, is open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is $5. Information: [phone].

Plan to spend some time here - and take lots of quarters. A helpful sign at the museum's entrance warns that unless you feed the parking meters along the Embarcadero well and frequently, you'll get a $32 parking ticket.

Old Town - The place where today's modern San Diego was born in an 1820 pueblo is a sort of museum by itself. Many of the structures are old and well-preserved; some have been restored, and others have been turned into shops. Heritage Park - a cul de sac containing six relocated Victorian houses, shops, offices, an inn and Temple Beth Israel, a house of worship built in 1889 - is a good walk-around spot.

Park at one of several free lots and walk around Old Town Plaza, where you can visit both the Wells Fargo Museum, and the San Diego Union Building. The Wells Fargo Museum's exhibits, photos and old red-and-yellow stagecoach tell the history of the famed freight- and passenger-hauling firm. The Union building, a wood-frame structure, is where the first edition of the newspaper was printed on Oct. 10, 1867. Ancient printing presses are still in place.

A dozen yards from the Wells Fargo Museum is the Mason Street School, built in 1865 and a frequent draw for local school field trips; the inside is completely restored, and visitors can sit in the old desks while a docent explains early school days.

Old Town is bounded by Moore Street on the south, Presidio Drive on the north, Taylor Street on the west and Hortensia Street on the east. Admission to all the museums is free; all are open daily during daylight hours. Free walking tours of the historic district are given daily at 2 p.m. Information: [phone].

Junipero Serra Museum - Don't expect to see a museum dedicated to the founder of California's missions. I could barely find a mention of him here, even though it was on this site that the padre founded the first mission in 1769. Instead, the facility - which resembles one of the 21 missions with its tower and cupola and long, covered walkway topped with red tiles - chronicles the early history of San Diego, from the native tribes through the coming of the Spanish and the establishment of the original San Diego Mission.

Seeing everything in this museum is a test of knees and feet: Visitors reach the hilltop museum by climbing either a long flight of stairs or a long, sloping walkway. More stairs lead down into the museum's main exhibit room, then another long flight heads up to another exhibit, and three more flights wind up into the museum's tower. The view from the top - overlooking the freeways and the western end of the modern city - is spectacular, though.

The museum, at 2727 Presidio Drive in Presidio Park, is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is $3. Information: [phone].

Cabrillo National Monument - Although it's not officially a museum, the National Park Service center at Point Loma has exhibits that chronicle Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo's discovery of San Diego Bay in 1542. A statue of the explorer overlooks the ocean at an observation point that's perfect for spotting migrating gray whales in the winter; park rangers say that on a clear day, you can see for 100 miles. And a restored lighthouse shows what San Diego life was like in the past century.

The monument lies at the southern end of Catalina Boulevard; the drive takes visitors through a U.S. Navy installation and past the Fort Rosencrans National Cemetery, which is dotted with thousands of white crosses for the veterans buried there. The monument is open from 9 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.; admission is $4 per car. Information: [phone].

On Location

For information about places to go in San Diego, contact the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau, [phone].

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO[ordinal indicator, masculine]CHART

Photo (1--color) The Star of India is part of the Maritime Museum (2-3--color) At the Wells Fargo Museum, students listen to a lecture, above. At right, a docent tells visitors about the Mason Street School. Carol Bidwell/Daily News Box On Location (see text)