Sausalito, California - more than postcard pretty

Last year officials in Sausalito counted all the people who bicycled into town on a typical summer weekend and reported that the number was over 1,000, closer to 2,000 if my memory is correct. No mystery there. Cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge, swoop down the hill into Sausalito and you’re in one of the prettiest small towns in America.

Yet, beyond the shops for vacationers needing nothing, and the bike paths for the must love congestion set (to be fair, some of those shops sell ice cream(!), and the bike paths lead to all sorts of wonderful trails in the Marin Headlands and beyond), there is Richardson Bay, home to raptors, seabirds, shorebirds, fish, and marine mammals.

And just around the corner to the southwest of those Headlands, there lies the Pacific Ocean with its 50 ton whales, 20 feet long, eight feet wide great white sharks, 5,000 pound Steller Sea Lions, dolphins, seals, innumerable seabirds, I know you’re out there Leatherback Sea Turtle waiting for me to take your photo, etc.....and you get the idea that Sausalito is more, way more, than picture album quaint.

[THIS JUST IN: LEATHERBACK SEA TURTLE SPOTTED 8/5/2007! I WASN'T ONBOARD! THEY SAID ITS BACK WAS BIGGER THAN THE BED OF A PICKUP TRUCK! A FREE TRIP FOR THE PASSENGER FROM TODAY'S TRIP WITH THE BEST LEATHERBACK SEA TURTLE PHOTO (for this blog)- send it to vern@sfbaywhalewatching.com]


A few weeks ago our SFBay Whale Watching trip encountered some rough seas on the way to the Farallon Islands. Our Captain didn’t think the passengers were comfortable enduring the deepening swells and besides, they’d already seen some whales.

























It was early yet, so instead of heading back to port, he treated everyone to a tour of Sausalito and the wildlife of Richardson Bay. We were able to really explore the piers and inlets where egrets, cormorants and seals seemingly live unaware of all those tourists.


I thought you might be surprised at what else there is to find in Sausalito besides souvenir t-shirts.



Photos by Ed Estes and Kathleen Jacques. Text by Kathleen Jacques.