Docked in San Francisco, CA
06 July 2012 | Emery Cove Marina, Emeryville, CA
JoLe & KC Wilson
Wow! We finally made it to San Francisco on the sailboat, it only took us four years to complete the trip we originally started in 2008! I guess we haven't totally completed it though until we return to San Diego after a week here in San Francisco with Kris & Becca. I guess we're just a little bit slow (no comments please).
We did get to see the Golden Gate Bridge when we rounded the corner from Bonita Channel, the fog had lifted enough that we could see the actual bridge but the upper pylons were covered in fog, the quissential (spelling?) post card picture of the bridge! As we came under the bridge and into the bay, the sun came out in a blaze of glory! Prior to the bridge there was also an awesome lighthouse, KC and I are partial to lighthouses anyway, with bridges spanning from rock to rock to get to it. We had expected all sorts of shipping going in and out of the channel, more than we came across coming and going in the Straits of Juan de Fuca, but there was nothing. We were amazed. Once we got under the bridge though things got a bit busier in the bay itself. Sailboats right and left, harbor tour boats left and right, totally amazing how busy it was. Awesomely fun. KC got his pictures of Alcatraz as we went by it, it looks exactly like it does in the movie "The Rock", not surprisingly as the movie was made there, but it is still very forbidding looking. I wouldn't have wanted to be there in the day that it was a penitentiary.
Coming into Emery Cove Marina was quite interesting. We've owned a slip here since 2004, have seen it once from land, but the entrance from the bay into the harbor is extremely shallow. Our hearts were in our mouths, not that much but it was a little disconcerting as KC told me that we were seeing the last of the deep water at 32 feet, thereafter it dropped to 10 feet - 8 feet (we draw 7 feet).