I peeked out of my hotel room in San Diego and spotted this giant freighter in San Diego Bay. The bridge in the background is the Coronado Bridge.

I was able to get a couple of great shots from my room before running down to the marina to get closer.

I headed out of the hotel toward the marina to be greeted by the sound of a helicopter overhead.

San Diego has a large military presence. Helicopters were seen and heard on a continuous basis while I was there.

I reached the harbor and captured a few good shots of this ship as it passed.

For whatever reason, some of the shots came out very grainy. But you get the idea.

The vessel in question is the Dorado Leader from the Japanese shipping company NYK Line.

I've been fascinated by cargo ships since I was a kid because of their immense size. A photograph like this doesn't really do the size of the vessel justice.

Zooming in on the standard-sized human beings offers a better perspective of just how big these ships are. The Dorado Leader is officially listed as being 331 feet long.

The Dorado Leader is a vehicle carrier operated by Japanese shipping company NYK Line.

This type of vessel is known as a Ro-Ro, meaning "Roll on, Roll off," (as opposed to carrying containers that must be loaded/unloaded by crane).

The ship has its own bridge for easy loading/unloading of vehicles.

The Dorado Leader was built in 2006, and flies the Panamanian flag.

The ship was built in 2006, making it relatively new when this photo was taken in 2009. At that time, the ship was currently shown to be carrying Mazdas.

It wasn't long before another military helicopter flew overhead.

Zooming in produced a couple of great shots.

Zooming in on a military helicopter.

A third helicopter soon followed.

We heard helicopters all day long.

I guess this makes sense given the large base across the bay.

Zooming in on a military helicopter.