San Francisco–Sat
25th January 2014. After the dawn sea fog dispersed we entered San Francisco early on a bright Saturday morning. The sail boats were out racing in the bay and almost becalmed in the low winds.
Of course, as you enter the bay the island of Alcatraz (Pelican in Spanish) lies before you in the cold waters of the bay. In the early morning it’s very stark and uninviting and also the number one tourist attraction in San Francisco. It only closed as a prison in 1963 but now you have to book in advance to go! I wonder if Broadmoor will ever become a tourist attraction.
As we tied up to the pier at noon we were surrounded by two boats of the US coastguard. Yes, that is some sort of machine gun. Welcome to the land of the free. When they had successfully surrounded us we were then boarded by a posse of armed customs officials and we all had to be interviewed on our intentions.
My questions went as follows:
Q. Why have you come to the US and what is the purpose of your visit.
A. I am on a world cruise and I had to come because the ship did, and sightseeing.
Q. I see your last port was Nicaragua…(in a suspicious voice) did you buy anything there?
A. Only a little pot!
At that point the customs official thought it was her day, until I said it was 10 inches high and made from pottery.
Anyway to cut a long story short after arriving at noon, we got to leave the ship around 4.30pm.
They were all polite and friendly but I can’t help feeling that the whole procedure was all well OTT, especially since we all had to get American Visa’s prior to sailing.
Even after all of the above, to arrive in San Francisco by ship has got to be the best way. Pier 39, (more of which in a later post) is just next door to where our Captain parked and all downtown San Francisco is before you within walking distance. Beside Pier 39 are the Sea Lions who used to live on “Sea Island” around the bay. But the living is better here (they get fed) and they they have become quite a tourist attraction as they sit and bask in the sun and have their photos taken.
Finally, as the sun set and the fog rolled back in, we came to the end of our first day in San Francisco. I never tired of taking photos of the bridge as it just kept changing. Opened in 1937 it was the longest suspension bridge at the time. The orange paint was originally the rustproof undercoat prior to painting it. However the locals like it so much they kept the colour. So somewhere, someone must have an awful lot of grey paint!. All for now.
