Fun time sailing San Francisco Bay!

We went sailing yesterday!

There are a lot of boat tours that do San Francisco bay, but we wanted to do something a little different. A sailing company called Adventure Cat Sailing Charters does catamaran tours of the bay, and we've never been sailing on a catamaran style vessel.

What a great time!

We chose to do the sunset cruise. It was foggy all day in the bay though, and we were a little worried about what they would do if the fog didn't clear. We got to the dock at 3:45pm, and although there was blue sky in the city itself, you could still see thick fog out near Alcatraz Island.

Here's the boat we're going to be sailing on!

Here's Captain Hans, giving us all some instructions.

If you didn't bring proper clothing...no worries! They have various sizes of jackets to keep you warm in case it's a little cooler than you thought it might be out on the water.

Included in the ticket price are snacks and two alcoholic drinks each!

Captain Hans, getting underway.

http://www.adventurecat.com/

Never counted, but we think there were between 20 and 25 passengers, so it was a nice small group. Lots of room on the boat, with many choosing to stay outside on the netting. 

Can you see the fog at Alcatraz?

We had just got underway and out of the harbour. They got some of the passengers to assist with the sails, and they shut down the engine. As you can see from the waves in the photo above, there was quite a bit of wind. Perfect day for sailing!

Fellow passengers helping with the rigging.

We made it out to Alcatraz Island, and now we were in the thick fog. Kind of a weird experience...you could easily imagine yourself floating aimlessly, lost in the middle of the ocean. Captain Hans blew our foghorn several times, and you could see his eyes constantly scanning the haze looking for any other boats that might appear out of nowhere!

Alcatraz Island in the fog.

But we came through the fog, and all of a sudden there was Golden Gate Bridge!

Other passengers enjoying the view.

There's the bridge, with part of it still in the fog.

Captain Hans brought us right under the bridge, then we turned around and went back to the other side to be in time for the sunset.

Other boats were waiting for the sunset as well.

There's the moment we were waiting for!

We couldn't believe how lucky we were with the fog. It actually ended up making the whole experience fascinating, and it cleared up just in time for the Golden Gate bridge and sunset to be perfect. Really fun time, and Captain Hans, along with crewmates Patrick and Michael were great. Couldn't have asked for a better experience.

When we compare this to the other bay cruise options, we think this was the best. They're all priced between $40 and $50, so we think it makes sense do do something different rather than being on a big noisy ferry style vessel.