Day 22 Summer Vacation 2009

Today we are just going to do a few things in San Francisco, no road trips today.
Patty picked us up at our hotel at 11am and we headed down to Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf.

We went for a bite to eat at a neat little 50’s style diner. Johnny Rockets. Great burgers and shakes.

We wandered around in and out of the stores and shops, bought some postcards and got some pennies smashed and got our National Parks Passport book stamped.

We are looking for T-Shirts, but all they seem to sell here are those cheap ones at 5 for $10.00 I would rather pay $20.00 for a good t-shirt that will last till I wear it out, so I will keep searching.
We bought tickets for the “Escape from the Rock” boat tour. Although this tour does not actually dock at Alcatraz, it does go underneath the Golden Gate Bridge and it does circle around Alcatraz. Any of the tours that landed on Alcatraz Island are all booked up till August 9th. You really need to book this in advance if you want to go ashore at Alcatraz. Next time we will know to do this.
I took a few photos from the dock as we were waiting to depart.

Here is our boat that will take us out into San Francisco Bay. The Harbor Emperor.

As we were leaving the dock, we could see dozens of seals and sea lions laying on the docks basking in the sun.

And we are underway out into the harbour. There are lots of pleasure craft, tour boats and ferries.

We are heading for the Golden Gate Bridge. One of the things that I have always wanted to do for a long time has been to sail under the bridge, so my dream is about to come true. Amazingly it is not too foggy.


Under we go.

Looking up at the bottom of the bridge.

We head back towards San Francisco and Alcatraz Island. The skyline of San Francisco is very impressive from the water.

Now we are heading to Alcatraz Island. The cruise will circle around the island so we can get some photos.


As we headed back to the dock, I got a few last parting shots of the Golden Gate Bridge. I didn’t know if they would turn out because I was shooting into the sun and there was a lot of sparkle on the water, but I think they turned out ok.

At the end of the cruise, you can purchase a photo and we decided to splurge and buy it. It is a great photo of the 3 of us as we sail underneath the Golden Gate Bridge.

If you would like to see all of our photos from today, you can click on the link to my FLICKR site.