SAN DIEGO — In the winter of 2016, Michael and Melissa Harlow were in the port city of Ensenada, Mexico, waiting to file paperwork that would allow them to sail south to La Paz. They passed the time in the waiting room discussing the journey ahead and the unfavorable weather forecast that might slow them down. Behind them, a young woman leaned forward, reached out an eager hand and said, “Hi, I’m Alaina.”

It was the beginning of what Michael Harlow has since called a fast friendship with Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley, who looked more like a couple from a 1980s Swedish clothing catalog than a pair of mariners. But unbeknown to the Harlows at the time, Moore and Riley were two halves of the husband-and-wife indie pop duo Tennis.

Photo by Ricky Bantog (@rckyb on Instagram)

“This is our farewell tour,” said Moore on Aug. 18 to a crowd of nearly 1,000 at Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay. “It has been the most amazing, incredible experience, and we really wanted to end things intentionally, with love.”

Situated on the Point Loma peninsula of San Diego, Humphrey’s is an outdoor venue offering sweeping views of Coronado, San Diego Bay and the coastal city's downtown area against a shadowy, mountainous backdrop.

San Diego was the first stop on the tour’s last leg, and attendees caught a glimpse of the band at their performative best, emotionally recharged for their final run of shows.

Before the sun set on the bay, early attendees caught an opening performance by Cults, an indie pop duo based in New York and originally from San Diego. Formed in 2010, both Cults and Tennis have have taken similar paths and remain ardent fans of each other’s work.

Cults concluded their set with the 2013 fan favorite, “Always Forever,” before Tennis took the stage in San Diego one last time. Their set featured songs from every album in the band’s extensive repertoire — a walk down memory lane, as Moore referred to it, because “who doesn’t love memory lane?”

The Harlows had seen Tennis twice before, but Moore made a special point to acknowledge their presence there that night. She paraphrased the story of the duo’s sailboat journey — during which they wrote their fourth album, “Yours Conditionally” — and the special bond her and Riley share with the Harlows.

“We were in huge seas together — probably 20-foot seas when we left,” said Michael Harlow. “When we came out around the cape, it just got gnarly.”

“Alaina talked me through that storm,” said Melissa Harlow. “We were on the radio together, and she was so encouraging: ‘This will end, it’ll be tomorrow, you’ll be okay.’ She was a lifeline for me, and I’ll never forget that.”

Tennis’ farewell tour follows the release of the band’s seventh and final album, “Face Down in the Garden,” a fully realized product encompassing the duo’s complete artistic range and an emphatic punctuation to their 15-year career.

“These songs are for you,” said Moore to the audience at the end of the band’s hour-and-a-half-long set. “They kind of belong to you.”