Sausalito: Which ferry to take? – Summer Tier Points
In this… epic.
- When will I learn to jump on a fare?
- Wednesday Afternoon.. off to the airport
- EI273 Birmingham to Dublin Airport
- Into Dublin for some Donuts. And Pokemon
- The Travelodge in Swords, Dublin Airport
- Pre-Clearance fun at Dublin airport, 51st and Green Lounge
- AA291 Dublin to New York JFK – Business Class
- A Manhattan Char Siu Adventure
- Back in the Secure Area, Flagship Lounge and AAdmirals Club
- AA2652 New York JFK to San Francisco International – Transcontinental Business Class
- The Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport
- Do the BART into San Francisco, The Intercontinental Mark Hopkins, San Francisco
- Sausalito: Which ferry to take?
- Halfway across the Golden Gate Bridge
- Fooding around San Francisco
- The Crowne Plaza, San Francisco Airport
- Early start at San Francisco airport
- AA164 San Francisco International to New York JFK – Transcontinental Business Class
- The joy of terminal swaps, BA Pre-departure dining
- BA174 New York JFK to London Heathrow – Club World (Business Class)
- An Early Morning Change at Heathrow
- BA828 London Heathrow T5 to Dublin Airport – Club Europe
- Doughnuts and coffee shops – Exploring Dublin
- Once more with feeling at Dublin Airport
- FR666 Dublin Airport to Birmingham Airport
- 600 TP: Done
Boat Adventures – to Sausalito. Which ferry works best?
I was in the mood for an adventure – and I fancied a ride on a ferry to Sausalito. The question is how to get a ride to and from there. There’s two options – Golden Gate Ferry who operate from the Ferry Building and the Blue and Gold Fleet who operate from Pier 41 in San Francisco
Two options. So naturally, I decided to try both of them.
A walk down from the hotel and a trolley ride later – I was at the Ferry building for the first of the rides on Golden Gate Ferry from the Ferry Building.
The ferry building.
The company offers either tickets or using a Clipper Card. As I had a clipper card, it was a cheap scan of $6.75 (if you buy a ticket… it’s a more eyewatering $12.95!)
There was a short delay for boarding the ferry due to the unending stream of bikes getting off the ferry.
Get a move on please bikey people.
Fun.
Eventually were let on the ferry
Like most ferries, it is has a bar/snack service on it, as well as indoor and outdoor seating. So of course, I went outdoors. Because – 1) no annoying glass getting in the way of windows and 2) it was reasonably warm outside.
And that of course leads to photos
Pulling away
The Bay Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge in the distance
The journey takes around 30 minutes, taking in the sights of the city, the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz… the previous home of many prisoners, tax dodgers, and mutants
Could open for the right inmate.
Don’t do this. Someone will scream at you
Or this
In the distance
Point this way.
Traffic
Closing in on Sausalito
Far…
Eventually, the service made it to Sausalito landing, with departure priority give to foot passengers. I exited and explored the village of Sausalito.
It is… rather quaint to put a term to it. Whilst it is obviously touristy, it doesn’t shout it out from the top of the hills – rather, it is settled and laid back. And considering my head didn’t know what time zone it was, this is a good thing.
Do you see what I see?
Because your purse needs to have a rainbow or a Loubuton heels on it..
Save fish, feed butts. Hehe. Butt.
In the distance
Because. Wine.
It was also a great place to play Pokemon Go, and pick up a rather powerful Tyranatar. Shame the IV’s were… awful.
A wild Tyranatar appeared (first time I’ve seen that happen in-game)!
Whilst I wasn’t in the mood for ice cream, I was in the mood to walk around slowly and enjoy myself – because this is a holiday – not a business trip where I’m on someone else’s timetable (which was going to be the theme of my next trip) .
And when you’re not on someone else’s timetable, it means you can dip in and out of shops, you can explore things slowly… in other words, enjoy life a bit.
The question is why the grill isn’t rotating… why don’t I have rotating grill like this?
Very.
With an hour or so killed, I decided to start making my way back to San Francisco. When I reached the landing, a Gold and Blue Ferry was waiting to load. I got in the queue, and was let past the many cyclists waiting to board.
Bikes.
And there were a load of them.
Unlike Golden Gate Ferry Gold and Blue use a more traditional ticketing method of buying on the ferry – with a single ride coming to with a single ticket costing a $12.50 one way, with no option of Clipper. Annoying, but that’s life.
With another ferry ride, this one took a lot longer to load up for the return joinery – to the point where a crew member said “Cheer up! There’s Beer aboard”
Because, beer makes some things better Allegedly.
Even then, I found the crew of Gold and Blue a little colder than the Golden Gate Ferry crews – to the point where volume of one of them would make a great TSA screener.
T
This is getting *way* too meta
This isn’t meta, but you need to do this safely. Use the live view setting on your camera!
The ferry sped through the water, with Alactraz passing on the left hand side, and the Golden Gate Bridge looking splendid as always.
Which is good – because I’d be walking ½ way across it the next day.
The boat took the route back toward San Francisco, and headed for Pier 41, slowing down as it entered the dock.
The SS Jeremiah O’Brien
With tickets needed to exit the boat, disembarkation was a slow process. Annoying, but there it is.
Off the boat – no annoying photo sales… which is a nice thing…
and into the mayhem of Pier 39
Overall: If going by cost alone, The Golden Gate Ferry offers excellent value if using a Clipper Card. If you’re walking up on the day and just buying a ticket – then both Golden Gate and Blue and Gold ferries offer good choices over to Sausalito. What it will depend on is your times and where you need to depart/arrive from – be it the Ferry building or Pier 41.
Next – Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge
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