View from the anchorage at Fort Baker
San Francisco Bay has a well-deserved reputation for being a great place to sail. Summer months feature reliable 20+ knot breezes funneling in from the ocean, and the big tidal currents and heavy volume of recreational and commercial traffic keeps the navigation interesting.
Mike walking on the bluffs overlooking Drake’s Bay
Maybe it’s because we only spent part of a year here, but we found a lot of fantastic anchorages. And a full-time job meant that we didn’t even have time to go everywhere we wanted to.
Here’s a list of some of the fantastic places we anchored:
- Fort Baker – This is an old military marina, and it’s situated at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge. What a spectacular view of the bridge and the city
- Napa River – The opposite of sailing to the city, the Napa River features tidal sloughs and wetlands, nearly all of which are devoid of people despite being located only an hour from San Francisco
- China Camp – The former location of shrimp farms, this place offers views of the Marin County hills and even offers a county park complete with a sandy beach and palm trees
- Paradise Cove – Located on the back side of the Tiburon peninsula, the name is appropriate for what it must be like to have a house here
- Drake’s Bay – Part of Pt Reyes National Seashore, this bay is about 20 miles north of San Francisco. It’s a stretch to call it part of the Bay Area, but it was a pretty easy sail to get to. We were the only boat there on an unseasonably warm weekend – what a beautiful place
- Clipper Cove – This is a man-made bay located directly under the Bay Bridge between the city and Oakland.
