By Nicole
Bark! Bark! Bark!
Pier 39 on the downtown San Francisco waterfront is an ideal location for exploring the city and being right in the mix of tourist activity…. and right in the mix of sea lion activity.
In the late 1980s, huge numbers of sea lions decided that Pier 39 was the place to be and began hauling out all over the docks. To give the sea lions a little place of their own, the marina built special floats just for them. I wouldn’t say that the two nights we spent here were particularly peaceful with all the sea lion ruckus going on, but it was fun being so close to these cute critters.
But what happens when a few sea lions migrate from their floats to your pier and end up napping on your dock lines (just when you’re ready to leave)?
Congrats on on a major milestone. More than 1 circumnavigator has told me that the scariest part of the trip was the initial Seattle to SF passage. They saw higher winds and bigger waves but not as short coupled and/or as generally cold and miserable. So for us that will follow in your wake, and want a positive fun/suck ratio would you recommend the the multiple stop in shore route or the faster no stop trip? From the blogs listed by Livia, I would say you had one of the highest f/s ratios in the list.
ReplyDeletechuck
I thought the sea lions left that area. Did they just come back to sit on your docklines?
ReplyDeleteChuck and Jackie: First of all, thanks! And you bring up a great question--whether we'd recommend harbor-hopping or taking the no-stop route. We think delving into this is worthy of its own post, and Aaron is writing it up as we speak. Stay tuned!
ReplyDeleteChristy: From what I heard, the sea lions are slowly making a return. It was so loud with just a few dozen sea lions that I can't imagine being there back when the floats were completely full! They're so crabby. :)
-Nicole
That is a great video. I don't think we could con our Wire Haired Fox Terrier into chasing them away.
ReplyDeleteJohn
S/V Sailor Dance