Port of San Francisco

 

Monday, February 3, 2025

Guess who is coughing now!  Yup, started yesterday.  Last night it got worse when I laid down.  After using cough drops and my inhaler several time during the night, I did manage to get some rest.  

We are due to dock at 6AM.  We are now in the Pacific Time zone and it is just past 5AM.  Just a few days ago we were in the Central and Mountain Time zones. 

Our bodies are still adjusting from the change and we wake up at a little after five and check the bow camera and we can see what I thought was the Golden Gate Bridge lit up in the distance. 

 We get dressed and go to the forward observation area to take some pictures.  There are quite a few people there already doing the same.  Before long the tugboats are helping us make a sharp turn to starboard to tie up to the pier.  I was hoping we would go underneath the bridge but it is not to be.  I remember going under it as a young sailor back in the 60s.  What I found out later was that I was looking at the Bay Bridge, we had already passed under the Golden Gate. 

S.F. skyline

The 9th deck dining room isn't due to open until 6AM, but they do have tea and coffee along with various juices.  Cold cereal is also available.  We have a small bowl to tide us over.  

Custom and Border Protection requires a face to face inspection of all guests, regardless of nationality and whether you are going ashore or not.  We are assigned to Immigration Group 31 and are to meet at 10:20 AM, 2nd Deck, Bright Lights Society bar and entertainment area. We are to bring our passports, Electronic Travel Authorization and/or Visas, if required.  They should be so strict at our southern border!

We are to be here two days.  We did not schedule any excursions today as we are meeting Sue's lifelong girlfriend that was her neighbor growing up.  She lives north of the city near Bodega Bay.  We visited her several years ago when we were traveling through California on our way to Alaska.  We have arranged to meet with her around 10:30 at a nearby Starbucks.  Hopefully we won't be detained too long with CBP.

We head for our muster point around 10AM and find a room full of people, probably over 100 of us.  At a little after 10, a crew member escorts us all to the gangway and into the waiting terminal where there is already a long line waiting to be called to one of thirteen stations where CBP agents are checking our passports.  One agent has a dog who politely sniffs us all as we pass by.  We snake around the barricades for probably 25 minutes before going to the station.  U.S. and Canadian citizens go one way and everyone else another to be interviewed.  It goes smoothly and we exit the terminal.  There is a geocache close by that Sue wants to find before we head to Starbucks.  We are checking our geocaching app when we hear our name called.  Sue's friend Phyllis had walked over from Starbucks to see if she could see us and her timing was perfect.  After hugs, we all three walk to the end of the pier where the cache is hidden.  After some searching, Sue finds it magnetically attached to some fencing.  We sign the log and record the find and head towards town.

Phyllis is knowledgeable about this area as she did live here for a time.  Sue has a package she wants to send to her daughter and the nearest post office is about a 15 minute walk as the crow flies but Telegraph Hill is in the way and we are not in the mood to climb it so we circumvent it and finally arrive after at least a half hour walk not without some hills as well.  It is in Little Italy which is obvious with the green, white and red flags prevalent as well as the Italian restaurants and pizza joints. 

Sue mails her packages and we proceed to Chinatown to explore and find a place to eat.  It is surprising how quickly it changes from Italian to Chinese and we walk down Stockton Street which has many markets and it is obvious this is where the Chinese do their grocery shopping.

Not under refrigeration!

  We walk through a few of these open air places and it is amazing what is available from raw ducks and chickens hanging to dried fish of all kinds and a lot of vegetables that we have trouble identifying.   

I don't know what these are but they
are pretty proud of them!

I wanted to mention the abundance of driverless Waymo taxis that we see.  They are all over the place.  I am tempted to try one just to say that I did but I'm sure it requires downloading the app and setting up a way to pay for it.  I wonder what the regular taxis, Uber and Lyft drivers think about them. 

A pair of Waymo's in traffic

We pick out a restaurant from our phone App but when we get there, they have a long line waiting and we are somewhat time constrained because Phyliss needs to catch her bus back to Bodega Bay around 2:30.  So we walk a little further and settle on a 2nd story restaurant which is less busy.  We order a pork Dim Sum appetizer which seems to be very popular in this area.  It is a dumpling type offering that is stuffed with different meats or whatever.  It is rather bland tasting but after adding some of the supplied sauce, quite good. 

The Three Amigos!

  The girls order soups and I settle on a BBQ pork something or other which turns out to be a lot more veggies than pork.  But it was OK and filling.  Our waitress brings us a complimentary dessert, some kind of pudding which was good, than another round of some kind of pastry which was tasty.  We leave and ask the Chinese boy at the entrance to take our picture.

I want to make a few comments about the homeless in the area.  There are a lot more here than we saw in New York but of course the weather has a lot to do with that.  They weren't everywhere but you couldn't walk more than a couple of blocks without seeing at least one.  They weren't bothering us and on only one occasion did one ask us for money.  However, I did have to steer around some feces obviously left by them on more than one occasion.  This is sad, and I can't help but think there must be some humane answer to this.

Phyliss walks with us part way back toward the docks but than she has to split off to her bus terminal.  We really enjoyed reuniting with her and hope to hook-up again sometime.  

We made our way back to Pier 27 and the Queen Mary.  If we would of had more energy, we would have liked to explore Fisherman's Wharf, but we were tired.  Sue's watch said we had covered over five miles and we both felt like it.  So, we boarded the ship and made a early night of it.

 Tuesday, January 4th 2nd day San Francisco

I had a decent nights sleep until I woke up to do my nightly visit to the toilet.  My coughing returned as soon as I laid down.  Sleep came and went after that.  I gave up around 6AM and got up and showered which seemed to help my cough owing to the humidity.  Beside my voice being a couple octaves lower, I didn't feel bad, just tired.

Upon opening the drapes, we saw that it was raining.  Our luck may have run out on our good weather.  I checked the weather app radar and it does not look promising for our trip to Alcatraz and Sausalito.  Our bus leaves at 9:30 and we are not sure if we have to go through CBP checkpoint again or not.  

It took no time at all to get through the terminal, no additional checking of passports.  We make our way to the bus in a light rain.  The bus is nearly full and we can't get a double seat so we sit behind one another.  Just before we depart, our guide Jacob, says the seats reserved in front for disabled are not being used and asked if anyone would like to move up.  Sue quickly raises her hand and we end up with choice seats that allow us to see forward!  There are two busloads of us and our bus will tour Sausalito first before going to Alcatraz Island.

We have to cross the Golden Gate to get to Sausalito and prior to crossing, he takes an exit to the Golden Gate Bridge Plaza and Welcome Center.  This a nice park-like area where there are restrooms and trails and of course a gift shop.  It is also the area where you can get on a trail that will take you to the bridge so you can walk across it, yes it does have a sidewalk.

  Bicycles can also use this sidewalk.  There is no charge for walking or bicycling across but the minimum charge for cars and motorcycles is $9.25.  Fees go up as high as $70 for multi-axle trucks.  It is all done electronically by reading your license plate.  Fees are only charged on the south bound traffic into San Francisco.  

We take a few pictures and Sue buys a pin at the store and the bus leaves after a 30 minute stop.  Jacob says that even though the weather is rainy and cold, it is a good day for pictures because normally there is a lot of fog and you can't even see the top of the bridge unless you are going through it.  The rain washes away the fog. 

We cross the bridge, which is actually highway 101, a major north/south artery along  California's western border, and make the short drive to Sausalito. 

From Wikipedia: "Sausalito's population was 7,269 as of the 2020 census. The community is situated near the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, and prior to the building of that bridge served as a terminus for rail, car, and ferry traffic.

Sausalito developed rapidly as a shipbuilding center in World War II, with its industrial character giving way in postwar years to a reputation as a wealthy and artistic enclave, a picturesque residential community (incorporating large numbers of houseboats), and a tourist destination. The city is adjacent to, and largely bounded by, the protected spaces of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area as well as the San Francisco Bay."

Jacob gives us an hour to look around, shop, eat or whatever.  There is an Adventure Lab here so Sue and I do that which takes us to interesting sites the length of this small town.  Unfortunately, the rain continues and combined with the winds, touring is not very pleasant.  We return to the bus, fairly soaked even though we were prepared for the rain.  

On our way back to the bridge, Jacob tells of several notable, recognizable personalities that lived here, including:  William Randolph Hearst, Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, Baby Face Nelson, Frank Oppenheimer and Shel Silverstein to name a few.

Jacob says we have time to tour the Presidio, which is just located off the south end of the bridge.  San Francisco Presidio was operated as a military post by Mexico from 1822 until 1846, when the United States Army took it over after winning the Mexican-American War. The Presidio was an important military post. It played a role in every major American conflict from the Civil War through Desert Storm.  In 1994 it became part of the National Park Service.  In 2005, it became financially self-sufficient mainly through the rental of the former barracks and officer quarters to the general public.

Jacob tells us that San Francisco has 3 cemeteries, two of which are here on Presidio and one of them is a Pet Cemetery.  The other is the Golden Gate National Cemetery for veterans and it is not accepting any more interments. 

Golden Gate National Cemetery

 It has been over 100 years since anyone was buried in San Francisco. In 1902, it became illegal to bury new bodies in the city, and by 1921, bodies were being moved to new land in nearby Colma. By 1941 nearly all the cemeteries were gone, and largely forgotten.  Colma currently has about 1500 residents, but it has over 1.5 million graves!  Hence the phrase, "Its great to be alive in Colma".

The bus drops us off near the Alcatraz pier, which is only a couple blocks from the Queen Anne.  We wait in the rain and wind for the next ferry. 

We finally board after about 30 minutes and are thankful to get out of the elements for the short cruise to Alcatraz Island.  

I would have liked to get some pictures as we approached but the weather was so bad I didn't want to go topside.  We disembarked and onto the island landing area. 

The prison complex is on a hill and we have to climb the equivalent of a 13 story building to get to the actual entrance.  Just what we need, more climbing in the rain and wind.  But we persevere and go through the entrance where we are given headphones and a recorder to give us an audio tour as we walk through the historic prison complex.  There must be a couple dozen different languages that are available which gives credence to the worldwide popularity of Alcatraz.  probably because of the movies like "Birdman of Alcatraz",  "The Rock" and "Escape from Alcatraz".  In all, there have been 21 movies and 14 TV shows featuring Alcatraz.  The audio is narrated by actual guards and inmates from Alcatraz.  It walks us through the cell blocks  A, B, C & D, dining area, visitor window, exercise yard, shop and library.

Alcatraz was first designated a military prison in 1859 through 1933, and a Federal Penitentiary from 1934 to1963 when Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy ordered it closed because it was deteriorating badly and the focus of incarceration was being shifted from punishment to rehabilitation.

And make no mistake about it, this place was a punishment!  When I first saw the cells, I was surprised at how small they were, 5ft X 9ft and 7ft high! 

Two shelves, a sink, toilet. a bed and a metal table and chair.  The rules of the house: You are entitled to food, clothing, shelter and medical attention.  Everything else is a privilege.  Inmates were given a list of 53 rules of what you can do and what you cannot do.  Most prisoners were Caucasian. 

Sue outside a isolation cell

Blacks were segregated and housed on the top tiers of B and C block.  All other races were mixed in with the whites.  D block was the area where solitary confinement was located.  Ironically, these cells were somewhat larger, but that was a small consideration to the isolation.

I could go on, but I think the pictures I took will tell a better story.  It is a fascinating place and I can't help but think if our youth would be required to tour this place and get a sense of what incarceration would be like, they would make better decisions when they come to a crossroad in their young lives.

Visitor window

Kitchen area