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Wednesday, July 25, 2018

CALIFORNIANA / WATER TAXI VIEW OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY

Realizing of all the attractions in San Francisco, we somehow missed a water taxi voyage

With no agenda as to their summer day destination, three generations of our small family exited the BART train at the Embarcadero Station.  It was early and a full day awaited our exploration of San Francisco. 

From the subway we wandered into the clever mall, which used to be the San Francsico Ferry Building.   There we found Humphry Slocombe ice cream and Blue Bottle lattes to steel us for the trek ahead.

Destination Hyde Street Pier
Wandering north along the Embarcadero, we came upon a young lady touting a trip on a water taxi.  She turned out to be captain of the tiny vessel.  For $25 total (including tip) for the trio, we hopped aboard the flagship of the San Francisco Water Taxi Co.

Our destination was half hour away at Hyde Street Pier.

Enroute northwest we discovered how strong a calm day current can be coming in from the Golden Gate Bridge and how choppy the bay can be even though it looks calm from all those pricy restaurants lining the wharves.

Bay water splashed into the 15 seat passenger lobby reminding us how cold the water happened to be.  A quick check showed plenty of life jackets stowed under our seats.

Leaving Pier 1.5 near the Ferry Building, intrepid tourists looked calm before a rogue wave splashed the first class section of the water taxi tossing cold water on the nonchalance of the first time voyagers.
The views of the city are spectacular from water level; we also noticed we were being chased down by a huge Red & White tourist ferry to our aft. 

Thoughts were many as our captain navigated by what was left of San Francisco’s wood piers of the past.   Youngest was amerced in thoughts, which included how long before could return to his video game emporium he had set up in his bedroom.

Our token GenXer looked forward to lunch somewhere at the end of the voyage.

The elder thought of doom.  Oh, the humanity!  What if the approaching ferry would overcome the tiny boat and swamp it; tossing captain and passengers into the baywaters? One good wake would swamp the top heavy water taxi and plummet it to the bottom faster than a six-inch putt.

Chased across the bay
Sum of all fears: The trailing ferry gave up chase as we entered the breakwater protecting Fisherman’s Wharf from the unpredictable currents; wind tossed waves of the bay and the ravages of a 75-degree, clear day in mid-July.

Unlike many cruise ship farewells, there were no tears or empty promises to forever keep in touch because our captain made parting so easy by pointing out the path through the commercial docks to the restaurants lining Jefferson Street.


Soon we had the best outdoor people watching table at
Capurro’s Restaurant, where we lunched stylishly on Sicilian seafood entrees, Yankee infused clam chowder, calamari & chips; several adult beverages while chuckling at the fashionistas prowling nearby as tourists.




To be continued.

Additional images:




Calamari fritto done to perfection with chips at Capurro's Restaurant along Jefferson Street in the Hyde Street Pier area.

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