San Francisco - Oct 27 - 30

A short and fabulous trip coming up to San Francisco, excepting the horrible exit out of Half Moon Bay where everything was falling and crashing to the floor. That was soon forgotten and the 27 nautical miles and about 3 hours travel time in total was great. It was a thrill to come under the Golden Gate Bridge. A memory to cherish forever!  

Marina Green Yacht Harbor is just past the Golden Gate bridge and next to St Francisand Golden Gate Yacht Clubs. What a convenient location! It was one of the more expensive marinas that we stayed at charging $2 per foot, per day. However, think of the price of a hotel room in this great city and it wasn’t so bad. We had three fabulous days and nights in the city and logged many miles on foot. The rain didn’t deter us from getting out and about and Fisherman’s Wharf as touristy as it is, was a must see. The people, the colors, the noise and the history… all wonderful. This city has a vibe that is palpable! 

The view from our end tie

Here we are!

The hop on – hop off bus was a suitable way to get an overview of the sights and history of some of the districts. The Presidio, Golden Gate Bridge, Richmond, Golden Gate Park, Sunset, Haight Ashbury, Tenderloin, Nob Hill, Union Square, Chinatown, Little Italy, Financial District, Embarcadero, and back to Fisherman’s Wharf. A great preview and a chance for us to choose the areas we wanted to spend some time in.

On bus ready to cross THE bridge

Looking back from Golden Gate to the city

Haight Ashbury

Tony Bennett's heart in Union Square (he painted it)

Staue of Victory on top of monument 

Pier 39

Irish coffee - yummo!

Well known San Francisco places / businesses that we visited: Buena Vista Café serves the best Irish Coffees and they are legendary. The Argonaut Hotel houses the Maritime Museum and has a good depiction of the early seafaring days of San Francisco as does Boudin Bakery which was established in 1849 by a French master baker and famous for its sourdough bread. Ghirardelli chocolate company was established in San Francisco in 1852, and is the third oldest chocolate company in the U.S. 

Boudin Bakery (Boo-deen)

The ferry landing and embarcadero have a fabulous farmer’s market and is widely acclaimed with both the quality and diversity of its fresh farm products and artisan and prepared foods. It is a wonderful market made up of small regional farmers and ranchers, many of whom are certified organic. A wealth of other products such as breads, cheese and jams. My mouth was watering as we scoped it out… hard living on a boat with no space to store things. (maybe a good thing?)

The Painted Ladies

Crooked Street from the bottom

... from the top (Lombard St)

The city is one of the most densely populated in the country. The architecture is amazing and many of the houses are beautiful. The Victorian 'painted ladies' are a stopping point for many visitors as is Lombard St, known as ‘the crooked street.’ Cable cars, trolleys, buses, trains and ferries… oh my! An easy city to get around in. Tripp and I have become well versed on the transit system between The City, Alameda /Oakland and have our own ‘Clipper’ cards.

Coit Tower - from top of crooked street

Golden Gate Bridge: "The mystical structure, with its perfect amalgam of delicacy and power, exerts an uncanny effect. Its efficiency cannot conceal the artistry. There is heart there, and soul. It is an object to be contemplated for hours. " - Herb Caen, May 1987

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Half Moon Bay - Oct 23 - 27

The cruise up the coast was not so bad… five hours of smooth rolling seas and an easy 47 nautical miles. No engines problems to bother us, however it is not an easy harbor to enter or exit. Waves hit us on the beam and the boat really rocked. 

Pillar Point Harbor

These are Wave Dynamics…

Waves are really just large circles of energy…almost perfect circles when in deep water…and you only see the tops. However, as waves come into shore and the bottom of the “circle of energy” touches the rising ocean floor the circle drags and the lower part of the circle slows down. But the energy behind tries to stay at the same speed and it has nowhere to go but up. And some point, the water can’t be held there and it falls over itself and a breaker is born.  

Among the fishing boats

Pillar Point Harbor is home port to commercial fishing industry. We were assigned a space among the fishing boats, two boats side by each in a slip. As we pulled in the current was strong and we were pushed toward the boat on our port side. A little nerve wracking to say the least. People tramp up and down the docks in the morning hours looking to buy fish and crabs from the boats. It's an active place to be!

                         Pretty town                                     

The quaint town of Half Moon Bay has a charming main street. The day we decided to Uber to town was the day the heavens decided to open and the rain came down. We spent a fun couple of hours ducking into shops to check things out and to stay dry. Perhaps there may have been a couple of wine tasting rooms involved. There were a few great restaurants to choose from but we elected to stay in Pillar Point, (El Granada) mostly and Sam’s Chowder House was a spot that Tripp and I latched onto. We met some varied personalities while perched on bar stools. Hippies, surfers, fishermen and tech people. Everything shuts down pretty early so there was not a lot to do after 9:00.

this is one of the things they do here...

“We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest. We must learn to sail in high winds.” ~ Aristotle Onassis

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