SAN FRANCISCO

The past 4 days have been spent at sea. Travelling North West, the weather is becoming cooler now.

We were due to cross under the Golden Gate Bridge at 6.00 am so I made a point of rising at 5.30 am so as not to miss it.  Plan failed!! The ship went through early at 5.00 am instead. Damn! However, my information is that the bridge is not that spectacular at night.

American Customs were painful on this leg of the trip. Because of our prior calls to Columbia and Mexico they insisted that no-one leave the ship until everyone had been processed. This took us until 10.30 so we were hanging around until then. Our section of the ship was scheduled for processing between 7.00 and 7.45 am so there was no sleep in for Julie.

The Golden Gate Bridge looked quite impressive even from a distance.

Likewise with Alcatraz, which sits in the harbour entrance. We were advised that the actual tour of the prison complex is somewhat over-rated so we chose not to visit.

We had booked a ‘Highlights’ tour of the city which was due to depart at 1.45 pm so the morning was ours to do as we wished.

We joined up with a couple of fellow passengers for the morning and took a stroll to ‘Pier 39’, a shopping/dining complex just a 20 min. walk away.

It was great there, what with all the souvenir shops and restaurants available.

We heard the sound of what sounded like seals honking in the distance so we followed this sound. As we turned the corner we discovered this colony of seals in the bay. 

As you may well imagine we spent the next half hour or so just watching their antics as they asserted their authority over one-another for supremacy.

After a very pleasant lunch overlooking the seals it was time to return to the ship to pick up our tour.

This took us around the city and showed us many of the highlights of the place. The tour took us to many sights and places we could never have discovered ourselves. The city itself is quite small and displays a great variety of architectural styles.

We also saw how clean and tidy the city was. The locals really seem to take a pride in their city; a lesson we can learn in Perth!!

Our tour took us into the hills area and to the Twin Peaks district. The views over the city basin are to die for. (This in spite of the fog and haze in the distance).

We then took a ride to the sea front and the old Steam Baths, of which only the ruins remain.

From there it was on to the Golden Gate Bridge and of course a ride over it on the tour bus. Once again there was insufficient time to take a bike ride or to walk over the bridge. One of the drawbacks to only having day trips to these places!

We had a late departure for the evening so we hopped of the tour bus prior to it’s’ return to the ship and took a visit into the town independently.

Our objective was to take a ride on one of the cities’ famous cable cars. In theory the idea was sound. However, for reasons I cannot fully comprehend the cable cars stopped running at 5.00 pm because of the Superbowl. They were running substitute busses so go figure!

So, after a mildly disappointing independent tour of the city center it was back to the ship and on towards our next destination of Hawai’i in four days’ time.