A. A boat dock for a party cruise ship.

Q. Where is it supposed to be on the show?

A. Somewhere near Miami.

Q. When did we see it on the show?

A. In Episode 11 (of Season 3), "I Had a Dream".

Dexter has been grabbed by an unseen assailant, bound, and thrown into the trunk of a car. He assumes he had been kidnapped by someone who was planning to kill him.

So when this scene begins, and the car trunk opens, Dexter jumps up and punches his unseen kidnapper. Unfortunately, his punch knocks down his co-worker, Vince Masuka.

Dexter looks up to see his male friends (Angel, Quinn, Vince, et al) gathered around the car, laughing at the misunderstanding.

It turns out that his friends have "kidnapped" the soon-to-be-married Dexter as a prank, and have just taken him to his bachelor party.

They are at a boat dock, and the bachelor party is being held on a cruise aboard a party ship. A sign reads "Wet Dreams: Adult Excursions".

Vince, who made the party arrangements, says "Premium Alcohol. An all-you-can-eat buffet. Plus high-class adult entertainment."

Dexter thinks to himself: "Kill me now".

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. A boat dock - but not in Miami.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. This scene was filmed at Dock 6 (on Aquarium Way) in Long Beach's Rainbow Harbor. That is the regular dock for Dream Cruises. The party ship seen in the scene appears to be the Endless Dreams (seen in my top photo below).

Rainbow Harbor is a round marina located between the Aquarium of the Pacific (on the west) and Shoreline Village. It is across the water from (north of) Shoreline Aquatic Park.
It is separated from the main street, Shoreline Drive, by a cluster of new restaurants.

There are a number of docks on the round marina known as Rainbow Harbor, mostly for pleasure cruises and tours. Dock 6 is the first dock east of the Pine Avenue Pier. As of 2009, it's next to the Tokyo Wako restaurant (which can be seen in the second photo below).

Pine Avenue Pier is at the far south end of Pine Avenue, south of the restaurants. Pine Ave ends at those restaurants, so you'll have to walk a little to reach the pier or the dock.


Here is an aerial photo of the area. And here is a map link.




I shot the photos below in 2009









The area is very close to where they filmed many other Dexter cenes this season, including the second Skinner killing, Prado's Cuban Festival, the Wendell Owens murder scene, and the scene under the bridge with the bloody shirt. Last season, they filmed the police awards ceremony just a few yards away from this dock.

Q. How the heck did you figure out where it was?

A. As long as they keep shooting in the Shoreline Village area, I won't have problems identifying the locations there. Between Shoreline Village, Shoreline Park, Rainbow Harbor and the Aquarium, this colorful area is one of my favorite hangouts. So I immediately recognized the scene as one of the Rainbow Harbor docks.  The only question was which one, and a quick look at aerial photos (with comparisons to the screenshots) made that fairly simple. The later shot, looking up the gangplank as Miguel arrivies, was particularly helpful.  A trip to the dock to shoot the photos (above) allowed me to verify it in person.