Down by the Bay
I’ve been living in San Francisco for coming up on four years now, and have been a resident of the “Bay Area” for over a decade, as improbable as that sounds to someone who grew up in the “Bay Area” (Tampa Bay) in Florida. It’s only since I moved up to “the City” that I have actually felt any connection to the San Francisco Bay itself, since living in the Peninsula (Mountain View / Palo Alto area) feels like it could be pretty much anywhere. Since living in SF proper, I’ve taken ferries to events, driven back and forth over bridges, and traversed the bay countless times by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). And finally, this summer, I’ve actually gotten in touch with the bay directly, on a brief but exciting kayak trip under the Bay Bridge. These are my bay stories.
The Bay Model
Do you enjoy decommissioned 1950s scientific equipment and being very cold? Then have I got a field trip for you: visiting the San Francisco Bay Model, a mechanical marvel that recreates the tidal fluctuations of the bay, inside a giant warehouse-like structure. This physical model was designed and built by the Army Corps of Engineers to study truly terrible and ridiculous “solutions” for problems of their own devising, like, “how can we turn the SF Bay into a freshwater lake?” Fortunately for everyone, they did not implement any of these ideas. But the model remains, now superseded by computer models, and is generally now a site for children’s school trips and curious visitors like me. It’s worth the trip to Sausalito to check it out. Bring an extra jacket, since they keep it freezing inside there. Special thanks to the 99% Invisible podcast for introducing this model to me, since I didn’t grow up here and thus never visited it on a school trip!
The BART Tunnel
What’s the best way to get from San Francisco to Berkeley during rush hour? The BART, of course - the marvel of 1970s engineering that allows commuters from the East Bay to travel underwater to downtown San Francisco in just a few minutes. This fascinating mass transit system was built across the bay by trenching the bottom of the bay, building the sections of the Transbay Tube on land, then sinking them into the trench and covering them up. Not for the faint of heart, traversing the bay in the Transbay Tube is extremely loud. But also, very fast. You can feel your ears pop as you descend and ascend through the bay, though you can’t hear anything above the screeching of the train. Currently the BART only serves the East Bay and San Francisco, south to Milbrae (and the airport); one day it may expand to fully circumnavigate the bay. Recent expansions are south from the East Bay toward San Jose, and go as far as Milpitas and North San Jose, but not yet to downtown San Jose. Once it makes it to San Jose, BART could connect to Caltain and complete the transit loop. As of this writing in 2023, there is still no rapid transit connection that allows you to get all the way around the bay - but that’s a story for another time.
BART is finally, this year, retiring the 1970s train cars that have been in service for over 50 years.
Kayaking the Bay
I have a weakness for kayak adventures, as my friends and family surely have noticed; I have forced friends and family to kayak with me in Michigan, Hawaii, and Texas, in the cold and rain in the Elkhorn Slough, and now, finally, in San Francisco itself. (Special thanks to the friend of my fabulous roommate who has given us their inflatable kayak on long-term loan!) I’ve been thinking about a kayak trip on the bay for years, ever since I discovered that there are kayak launches and organized kayaking tours right out of Mission Bay. Recently, I had a friend who is a former San Franciscan come to visit, and agree to come with me & my roommate for an afternoon on the water. Somehow we lucked out with one of the few summery days we get each year, with blue skies, no fog, little wind, and calm waters. We departed from Pier 40 (South Beach Harbor) and made it to below the Bay Bridge, then turned around and came back. Next time I’d like to try kayaking up Mission Creek and see if we can get as far as Crane Cove Park to the south.
