September 2003
We arrived in San Francisco on  at 9:00 am on Sept 22. We had heard so much about the Golden Gate Bridge and the entry to San Francisco Bay, mostly about how bad the conditions could be!  So we planned a high slack tide entry that just happened to be at dawn. It was a perfect, calm morning for our passage under the Golden Gate Bridge. This was our first major port entry on our own and was the start of a policy to NEVER enter a strange harbor after dark (which we have only broken once by entering the well marked Mazatlan Harbor at 2 am).
	Our friend Richard Ying arranged for us to stay in his slip at Pier 39, right in the center of everything.  From there we explored San Francisco; walking every day to a different part of the city. We really enjoyed the city although we didn't appreciate how cold San Francisco could be in Sept.
We shared the marina with hundreds of sea lions. Protected by California law, they have appropriated the slips on one side of the marina at Pier 39. Sea lions are not the most congenial neighbors, as they make a lot of noise and they don't smell too nice.
	We all loved the Japanese Garden at  Golden Gate Park.  We even liked the design of the bathrooms.
Betsey:  I loved these cool and mysterious paths leading to magical bridges over still water. Even looking at the photos makes me feel serene.  I want to be a landscape gardener in my next life.
	The Moon Bridge was lovely, just a few Siberian Iris blooming at the edge of the water.
We left San Francisco soon after we visited the Japanese Garden. We spent a few days in Sausalito, a few days at Angel Island, then we headed south for Half Moon Bay
	We left Ayala Cove, Angel Island on a clear hot morning and sailed around the west headland…and into a thick, cold fog bank.  Luc had the helm, the sails were up, sailing hard. We all watched anxiously for boat traffic. A fog horn kept getting louder and louder and then a freighter loomed out of the fog,  pointed at our beam about 200 yards off.
There wasn’t time to be scared.  Luc held his course; there was nothing else to do.  We pointed directly at the mid channel marker because freighters stay well clear of the markers.  We hoped they could see us on radar, because we couldn't see them.
	And she didn’t hit us, but it was …...up close and personal with the Horizon Navigator.  And these photos are several minutes later, once we started breathing again and had the wits to grab the camera. a little close, yes?
Leaving the Golden Gate Bridge behind, and beginning the next leg of our journey