Sabins on the Sea - Day 6 - San Francisco
by Nina Sabin - Travel Blog
After two days at sea we were ready for our first port - San Francisco.
If you never been to San Francisco, here is a little history about the city.
Some call San Francisco the ‘Paris of the West’ because it is such a beautiful city filled with a diverse population, has an interesting history and is surrounded by the beautiful blue water of the San Francisco Bay. San Francisco became what it is today as a result of the Gold Rush of 1849, which increased the city’s population from 1,000 to 25,000 in a year. San Francisco has some of the steepest streets in the world.
We started our day with our cruise routine of getting up early and getting to the gym. We actually were up before sunrise. I was so excited about getting a sunrise picture of San Francisco. If you not familiar with San Francisco’s weather but it very common to be overcast and fogging. Needless to say their was no sunrise.
Our room service breakfast arrived at 8 am. Then we were off to get some supplies. When you are on a 50 day cruise and going to remote islands where toiletry supplies will be hard to find it is better to be prepared. Therefore, we stocked up with things we could not bring on a plane due to weight, such as mouthwash. What was interesting as we went to buy these items in the Safeway, everything was locked up due to their abundance of thefts.
After shopping, we went to Pier 39 where the sea lions gather. They are such noisy creatures. We posted some videos of them on our YouTube channel. https://youtu.be/HDNIrXkD31c, https://youtu.be/wp22EdB-Z7w.
We also love seeing the seagulls who are always around the port and Fishermen’s Wharf.
The bag was heavy from our supplies so we stopped back at ship to drop them off. Then proceeded back to the city to explore more and meet up with friends who live in the Wine Country about an hour north of San Francisco. We have know them for over 25 years.
We had an amazing Thai lunch at New Thai Elephant on Bay and Mason Street, not too far from the port. It was one of the best Thai restaurants we have eaten at… and that is saying something since we eat a lot of Thai food.
The rest of the day we spent walking around San Francisco and catching up.
After such a good lunch, we could not miss finishing the meal something sweet. We stopped at Ghirardelli Square. Those chocolates are amazing. The even had a sale buy one and get the other at 50% off. Who could resist!
Our time sightseeing together ended by walking through the famous bakery, Boudin. The smell just from the door was mouthwatering. They even had bread moving around on a track along the ceiling. So cool!
Back on the ship by 3 pm. Just in time to enjoy our drink package. I don’t know if I mentioned we get 15 drinks each day per person. That can be alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks.
The ship left port just after 5 pm, once we went under the Golden Gate Bridge, John got a sample massage for 5 minutes. Dinner next, which is always unbelievable food. Each night they give me the menu for the next day so I choose the food and then they can prepare it gluten and lactose free. It has been amazing.
We finished the evening by watching a BBC Plant Earth II in concert. The shots of the animals were incredible and having a live orchestra with the movie gave it such excitement.
Tomorrow is another sea day on our way to San Diego, our next port.