Logbook and Photos

"Every Picture Tells a Story (Rod Stewart) "  

Log 3 (September 2-25, 2002)

Visiting San Francisco Area and the Delta Region

	Downtown San Francisco We arrived in the San Francisco area on September 2, 2002 after a 9-day offshore passage from Vancouver Island.  Here is a view of San Francisco from across the bay in the headlands above Sausalito.  The Golden Gate has a $5 toll when crossing towards downtown, an expensive commute for those working downtown!
	Chinatown Chinatown was a happening place and a great start for exploring San Francisco.  We had a beautiful day, in the high 80s.
	Food sampling doesn't get any better... Rather than eating a sit down meal, we wanted our day to be filled with different tastes.  Here we take a quick break to eat Chinese-style BBQ pork and ribs.
	What's San Francisco without the Cable Cars? There are four cable car routes and one central power plant driving massive electric motors, which move the cables running beneath the streets.  The cable cars grip the cable to go and release it when they want to stop.
	Other modes of transportation... Scooters for the boys have been an excellent mode of transportation so far on our trip.   Joel and Gerrit agreed, especially whipping down the very steep hills in San Fran!  We were able to cover many miles as a family, to the point where we all wore out at the same time.
	Alcatraz Island The infamous Alcatraz Island looms in the haze over San Francisco Bay.   Afternoon winds on the bay often top 30kts.
	Angel Island - In the middle of the bay, just northwest  of Alcatraz is Angel Island, which has a very interesting past.  This particular cove  (Ayala) was home base for the Spanish survey vessel San Carlos, whose crew surveyed the entire San Francisco bay area for mapping purposes.  Later this Island became a major depart and disembark point for the US Armed Forces during the Cold War.  It also served time as a quarantine.  Tioga is anchored in the background, behind Gerrit's head.
	The Delta Region - San Francisco Bay is fed by both the Sacramento and San Joaquin River systems.  Here, we are heading up the San Joaquin River into the Delta area, where there are hundreds of miles of navigable water made possible by a massive system of levees and dikes.  The delta area is largely agricultural, with farmers' fields some 30' below the water level in the rivers and levees.
	New York Slough - One of many anchorages in the Delta, we anchored here twice.  The water was both fresh and warm, perfect for swimming in the 90-100F temperatures we had.  We spent 10 days in the Delta region.
	School's year starts... While you may have thought we were lazing about living the life of Riley, we were using our time in the Delta to get settled into our first ever home-schooling routine with the boys, about a 3 hour per day endeavor.  Here, Gerrit works at a math assignment at the table in our main cabin.
	Science experiment #1 - where does popping corn come from? Way down a bank at the Potato Slough, we discovered enormous fields of corn.  The boys were certain that the corn should pop, so we collected a sample and brought it back to the boat for subsequent scientific testing...
	Experimental popping results - NOT! The boys later discovered in the Benecia Public Library that what we had was "dent" or feed corn.  The other two types of corn are "sweet" and (yes) "popping" corn, with the latter discovered by the Indians years ago when a kernel left by a fire exploded into a fluffy piece of popcorn.
	September 22, 2002 - Happy Birthday Sheila! Back in Sausalito prior to leaving the Bay area, here we conclude Sheila's 40th birthday celebrations on a friend's boat with (finally) a Pina Colada!
	7:00 am September 25, 2002 Today, we departed San Francisco in thick fog after 3 weeks of great weather.  Our next destinations are to the south on the way to Disneyland and San Diego, with ports of call including Santa Cruz, Monterey, Santa Barbara, and Newport Beach.
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