On our final day in San Francisco I was bound and determined to walk the beach. I'm not even sure I've ever dipped so much as my toe into the Pacific (except for the inland waterways of the Alaskan cruise's path). I also wanted to beachcomb to look for all kinds of goodies that are not the typical find on the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico shore. Before I went to bed, I consulted my handy dandy and now quite shabby map I received upon check-in from the hotel's concierge. I knew it would have an approximation of the distance to the coast from the hotel. The map had "condensed" several sections and after closer inspection, I realized that it was about 15 miles "as the crow flies" or about a $35 cab fare. Nah. The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (National Park) would have to suffice. I looked up the tide and sunrise for San Francisco and both were at about 5:00 that morning. So, I went to sleep. And then I woke up early to go visit the beach.
A few days earlier I saw a sign about how the Embarcario was the tsunami evacuation route and that made me laugh at the rediculousness of having a road along the water's edge on a manufactured seawall on reclaimed landfill as the "safest" road to drive on during a tidal wave... But this sign is even better! If there is a tsunami and you are enjoying time at the beach, climb to higher ground.
From what I learned about San Francisco, the marina district used to be tidal marsh flats. Ships wrecked there and/or were abandoned once the gold rush folks got to California, shacks, and other small structures were built. And then, a massive earthquake in 1906! What didn't fall down or burn down was covered with dredged sand and more debris and was built upon again. And once more, an earthquake hit in 1989 and further destroyed the place. So, the land under the fancy homes and expensive sky scrapers is currently just flattened out debris mixed with sand. Therefore, if one finds oneself in the general vicinity of the marina district during a tsunami, go to higher ground...which is actually quite far away...if not sucked into the slurry of liquefied "soil" first. Who were the city planners? As an elementary school teacher, I know better. This city is doomed. So, I'd better go exploring!
Apparently, people also swim in this water. I had always heard that the water was cold and shark infested AND prone to one heck of a strong tidal current. But, we saw a number of open water swimmers over the days we were in San Francisco. In the above picture the small white specks just to the left of center are two swimmers. Neither one were wearing wet suits...just bare chest and trunks.
The following pictures are from my initial walk through the sandy tidal flats. The area is also fed by a marshy stream and so the landscape was quite unusual for me. At times the sand was hard like cement but at other times it was streaked with rivulets of fast moving water bordered by quick sand.
No one else was really walking around, but it was a regular work day and quite early. The people who I did see were pretty much all like clones of one another. They all wore Wellies, jeans or Under Armour type leggings, a windbreaker jacket and carried a tennis ball and/or tennis ball throwing device for the accompanying dog. I bet in the time that I walked in the beach, if I saw 100 people, only 10 were without a dog ...or two ...or more! There weren't any joggers and only one set of youngish women who appeared to be walking for fitness. Odd. But totally fine with me! I love friendly dogs and prefer my human interactions to be ... Well, I prefer not to interact with other humans while beach combing.
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