Day 74 24th March 2011

Golden Gate Bridge in the rain

Alcatraz

We got up very early this morning so that we could be awake when the ship went under the Golden Gate Village. It was at about 5.50am. The visibility was good although a little rain was falling. The bridge was illuminated by its lights so that its outline could be seen. The water below was quite turbulent showing the powerful currents. There was little traffic at that early hour.  After seeing the bridge we returned to bed for an hour.

We had booked a trip to travel around the highlights of San Francisco. Unfortunately, it was raining hard by the time the coach was ready to start the tour. The journey involved going across the Golden Gate Bridge to a view point on the far bank. This was fun but the rain was now coming horizontally with a 40 mph wind that shook the coach as we made the crossing. A few hardy souls got out at the view point to take a photo. The trip moved through the city showing us the Golden Gate Park with its beautiful trees, the fine Victorian homes built in the 19^th century, and the large houses of the original rich families that are now schools or hotels and finally the modern shopping centre. It was a beautiful city and you could see why people wanted to live here even in a deluge of rain.

The rain changed from a deluge to simply a downpour during the afternoon so we walked the short distance from pier 35 where the ship had docked to pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf. We dashed from shop to shop to avoid the rain but managed to have lunch, do some shopping and see the sea lions that congregate on the floating pontoons at the end of the Wharf. There was also a good view of Alcatraz Island. By the time we returned to the ship we were very wet. I did manage to sample the local beer, Long Tire Amber Ale which was very smooth.

The ship sailed at 6pm tonight on its way to Mexico, Acapulco. We went under the brdige again and this time we had a clear view.