We spent a day in Half Moon Bay resting up. As I mentioned in the last post it was foggy all morning, but cleared up in the afternoon. That evening the sunset was stunning!

Outer Pillar Point Harbor

My new camera captures sunset colors close to perfect.

See how still it is – a ripple making a beautiful reflection.

We departed Half Moon Bay at 1100 in order to enter San Francisco Bay on the flood. And we sure did! Our average speed was in the mid-nine knot range through the bay. Like most of our arrivals to San Francisco Bay, it was with fog.

Pillar Point Harbor Entrance

The horn blows 24/7 – fog or not.

My photos look like black and white – but they are varying shades of fog. The problem with voyaging in fog is that there isn’t much to see – or anything to see if it is thick. We could see, but not well enough for many quality photos .

Golden Gate Bridge

The bridge gradually came into view – at least at the water line of the bridge. Here we are at the entrance to San Francisco Bay. The south tower is to the right.

Once under the bridge we could see the sun shining to the north on Sausalito and Angel Island. Lucky them!

Once we got close we could see the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s red in my book, but I am not in charge.

Notice the item low and to the left of the stanchion. You’ve heard of “scratch and sniff”, well I wish you could “push and hear”. That is the fog horn for the Golden Gate Bridge. And, believe me, it is loud. I am not complaining. Mariners need the warning, and no one is going to ignore that horn.

Famous site in San Francisco Bay – The Rock – Alcatraz Island

Though many tourists make this a “ must see” site, just going by is enough for me. The place gives me shivers.

Coit Tower

No tour of the bay would be complete without seeing Coit Tower.  The views from the tower are breathtaking.  We plan to visit the tower this winter.

Either the Coit tower is leaning or we are rolling – yeah, definitely the latter. Most of the city was engulfed in the fog.  In all our past experiences with fog on approach to the bay, once under the bridge everything opens up to full sun – but not on this day.

San Francisco  Bay

Do you recall our voyaging conditions out on the ocean during this trip? It was flat, calm, little or no wind. Well, that all changed as we entered the bay.

See the pretty white fluffy clouds just above the land line? That is fog – the same fog we had on the ocean. It stayed all day.  We found the sun as we got further south and closer to our destination.

We had three foot chop, and winds gusted to 20 knots. Luckily there was no ocean swell to add to the mix. It made for a bumpy ride. These conditions are not that rare in the bay. It’s why there are so many sailboats here. They love the wind.   Years ago, while staying up in the delta, we met boaters terrified of the bay.  They had no desire for white cap conditions.

Our destination was San Leandro Marina. Winds at 15 knots, with higher gusts, make docking a boat tricky. It becomes even more so, if you are in a tight slip. Of course, it was yes to all the above. There is rarely a choice – not dock or dock – you just do it. We are fine, the boat is fine, and we breathed a sigh of relief.

We are happy to have this leg of the voyage north done. It was a good voyage.  Conditions were as perfect as we could hope for.  It put us just that much closer to our spring destination of the Pacific Northwest. We don’t expect a weather window this fall to continue north, so we are putting our weather tools away for now. We will hop around the bay over the winter, but for now we are secure.

So,  today, we are home – in San Leandro Marina.