October 5, 2014 - Golden Gate Bridge and Sausalito

(This post was written days ago but we have had no wifi until now, so it is a delayed post)

Today was a milestone for us.  We passed under the Golden Gate Bridge and entered San Francisco Bay.  What a great feeling to have made it back down the coast, returning Adagio back to her home waters.

 At around 7:00AM we departed Drakes Bay and were greeted by a spouting Whale.   No great picture to show but it was a nice start to our morning.  About 20 minutes later Kathy spotted several spouts.  We counted 4 perhaps 5 whales in this pod.  It was exciting to see so many at once.

 

Two whales diving, leaving Drake's Bay heading for San Francisco

The ride to San Francisco was calm, but there were a ton of fishing boats to contend with.  Sport and charter fishing is alive and well here. We took the inside route through Bonita Channel so we could avoid Potato Patch Shoals.  As we exited Bonita Channel we had our first full view of the famous Golden Gate Bridge!  AWESOME doesn't adequately describe this sight, but is all I can come up with after only one cup of coffee this morning.

 

There it is, the Golden Gate Bridge.

Our first sight of the famous bridge

About to pass under the Golden Gate Bridge

We passed under the bridge and then slowly cruised close to the interesting San Francisco waterfront.  This is going to be a great place to explore.  We will walk the entire waterfront.  We will go up Coit Tower, ride a cable car.  Go to Ghirardelli Square.   Check out Fisherman’s Wharf.  And more......  What a fun stop this is going to be!

After passing Pier 39 we turned and headed toward Alcatraz.  We passed close by and got a good look at the former prison. Then over to Angel Island to take a look at the anchorage to see if we could squeeze in.  No room, all the buoys were taken, the docks are for day use only, and anchoring is not allowed.  So, we headed for our planned destination of Sausalito to drop the anchor with a few hundred other boats.

 

Alcatraz.

We anchored and deployed the flopper stoppers immediately.  There is a lot of boat traffic here (wave generators!) and watching the sailboat masts swinging wildly from side to side is not comforting.  The flopper stoppers help, but they certainly do not eliminate all the rolling motion. 

Flopper stoppers deployed.  There is a device hanging off the end of each pole
that helps reduce the rolling motion of the boat at anchor.

Anchored at Sausalito

The kids spent a lot of time swimming and playing in the 64 degree water.  They had a blast!  Zappa, our kitty even went for a swim.  It was an accident, and is the first time he has ever fallen off the boat.  He timed his jump from the cockpit floor to the top surface of the hull just as a big boat wake sent the boat rocking.  His intended landing surface dropped several inches before he landed, which allowed him to completely overshoot his target and plummet over the side of the boat and into the drink.  Kevin jumped in immediately to save Zappa and only received a small scratch from his desperate claws.   Zappa spent the next several hours cleaning himself.

Swimming in the warm waters,  Well, warm compared to our water back home (in the 50's)

Cindy climbs our "climbing rope" which we hang over the side of the boat

Washing off the salt water after Zappa fell in and went
swimming.  Well, at least we know he can swim.

We ventured into Sausalito several times and walked the entire town.  It’s a nice little waterfront town with tons and tons of shops to peruse.  We were there when a car show was happening in the park.  I was the only one interested in this, and I enjoyed it.  I saw several 1960’s Shelby Cobras, a few Ferrari's, some really rare BMW’s, a fantastic Mini from 1966, and many interesting and gorgeous old cars.  There was even a good rock band playing for the event.  We were treated to a fireworks show over San Francisco after dark.

 

There was a huge kids sailboat race going on when we arrived.  Here, some of the kids
are being towed back to their marina.

Beautiful fireworks show over San Francisco, as seen from Sausalito

We have called a lot of San Fran marinas and slips are hard to come by right now.  Fleet Week starts Thursday and most of the marina’s are full with boats coming to town for the event.  Fleet week is when the Navy ships arrive.  It’s a big party all over this town.  We have secured a slip at Pier 39 right on the heart of town for 3 nights, just before fleet week begins.  It will be perfect for spending time in San Fran, since everything will be just outside our doors.