Sea Reach Adventures: San Francisco

San Francisco

September 25, 2011

We have spent the last few days at Schoonmaker Marina in Sausalito. We have had a chance to do laundry, re-provision, get diesel and empty the holding tank - all part of the cruising life. Once again some repairs to attend to. John has replaced the hose for the wash-down pump, which was getting worn and had leaked. Our tri-sail track had been distorted some time while the mast was un-stepped in the winter and John had to hack a piece off at the base in order to use the tri-sail during our trip down. We found a rigger close by who is doing a custom repair of the track that will make it much easier to use. It has however extended our stay here and we now have to wait for another suitable weather window to head further south.

We took the ferry over to San Francisco city passing close to Alcatraz island. The sea was very rough and choppy that day. We were glad we had decided to take public transportation instead of making the trip over on Sea Reach. We walked from the ferry terminal to pier 41absorbing the energy of the waterfront and checking out some of the historical sites along the way. We took a two-hour open bus tour of the city which was very interesting with an excellent tour guide. The tour took us through Chinatown, around the legislative buildings and out to the Golden Gate Park with a stop at the south side of the bridge. The fog had rolled in so we saw very little of the bridge that day. The fog here can roll in over the hills with little warning. The winds are unpredictable in the bay area and between fog, wind and heavy traffic you need to keep you wits about you while underway. Our trip to the fuel dock was an adventure in itself as we crept through the fog looking for the narrow channel that leads to the fuel dock. Richardson Bay area is very shallow and straying outside of the channels can quickly lead to a grounding. There are currently four Bluewater Cruising boats at the marina here, Shannon, Night Sky, Sea Reach and Tahnoo arrived this afternoon. Last night we had a musical evening aboard Sea Reach with Cathy and CJ from Shannon joining us with guitar, tin whistle and hand drum. Peggy and Neil joined us from Night Sky lending their voices to the festivities and John played flute with Ger on guitar. It was a lovely evening filled with joy and comraderie.