CALIFORNIA: CRUISING 

SAN FRANCISCO BAY

by Lee Foster

When the cruise ship Spirit of Discovery arrives in San Francisco Bay each autumn, a new (and very old) way emerges for seeing San Francisco Bay, part of the 700-mile Delta waterways, Old Sacramento, and the Napa-Sonoma wine country.

You can board on Friday night, cruise past the San Francisco skyline before dinner, then sleep while the ship powers up to Rio Vista on the Sacramento River for the night. Starting at dawn, the ship meanders further up the Sacramento until docking at Old Sacramento, where you have the afternoon to explore. That night the ship motors back down the Delta and up the Napa River to dock at Sea Ranch Park (not to be confused with Sea Ranch on the Mendocino coast). Sunday morning in Sonoma and afternoon in Napa acquaint you with California's Spanish history and contemporary wine production. The ship departs in the evening and settles in San Francisco Bay, where you arise at dawn for an enchanting view of The City before motoring in to dock at China Basin.

It's quite a weekend. You don't have to drive a single mile to enjoy these prime Northern California destinations. It's all done for you, in style and comfort.

Ships of all kinds, from paddlewheelers to sailing craft, were the original means of transportation in the Gold Rush era and beyond. Rivers in Northern California were the first roads. This cruise is a nostalgic re-creation of those earlier voyages, relaxing and measured in pace. The scene on The Spirit of Discovery is also totally casual, with open seating in the dining room, no jacket and tie required.

The ship itself is a pleasure to encounter. Small enough to be quite intimate, with only 84 passengers, the Spirit of Discovery can maneuver easily in these shallow waterways. Cabins are comfortable rather than posh, with the deluxe rooms having double beds and a VCR, allowing you to catch up on a favorite movie, as I did. The food aboard is inventive rather than pretentious, featuring regional historic specialties, such as Hangtown Fries (an oyster omelet) for breakfast and perhaps breast of duck for dinner.

Each cruise has aboard a wine expert. I enjoyed hearing Dwayne Helmuth of Callaway Vineyards in Southern California inform me about his winery and the wine scene in general.

Views of San Francisco on the night out and morning in are a special treat. I will long remember the pink dawn of Monday morning awakening the city, gradually erasing a lingering full moon. The Bay was mirror calm on that fogless morning. Since this was autumn, there were thousands of ducks and geese in the air. The ship has plenty of onboard binoculars for the use of passengers. Huge container ships passed under the workhorse Bay Bridge and chugged into Oakland.

Experiencing the Sacramento River, the main artery in the Delta waterways, draining 40 percent of the state's runoff, was another delight, on Saturday morning. The draw bridges of the Delta would open as the ship arrived. Some stretches of the bank were heavily wooded. Other sections were scraped clean and faced with rock. Behind the levees that keep the river from overflowing into the fertile farmlands, Bartlett pear trees waited for their winter pruning. Small towns such as Walnut Grove and Cortland greeted the ship. The occasional dreams of entrepreneurs, such as the restoration of the Ryde Hotel, now the Grand View Island Inn, passed before me. Fishermen in their small powerboats waved to me, pausing in their relaxed efforts to catch salmon and striped bass. The cruise host, John, was on the microphone pointing out the sights as we motored along.

Old Sacramento, of course, is a major tourism attraction. I enjoyed the wonderful California State Railroad Museum, recalling that Sacramento was where the railroad going east began and the Pony Express ended. At the Discovery Museum, I lingered over a lavish display of gold. All the restored architecture of Old Sacramento consists of brick buildings, preserved on the outside, then used for vigorous commercial activity on the inside. I stopped for a glass of wine that afternoon at the Fat City Bar & Grill, savoring the atmosphere the Fat family has created with stained glass, tiffany style lamps, and even a mammoth wooden bar snatched from a saloon in Leadville, Colorado.

On Sunday, as I savored Sonoma and Napa, the full pleasure of not having to drive ourselves began to sink in. Escorted shore excursions are included with the cruise ship ticket. It was a surprise to learn that the Napa River was a navigable waterway. The boat anchored opposite a fresh water/salt water marsh alive with bird life.

I was dropped off for the morning in the Sonoma Plaza and had a chance to see the historic Mission and the exceptional deli known as Sonoma Jack Cheese Factory, famous for its flavored jack cheese. Then I ventured over to visit the house of Sonoma's founding patriarch, Mariano Vallejo.

For the afternoon in Napa, I toured the Schramsberg champagnery, which Robert Louis Stevenson saluted even in the 19th century, and the Clos Pegase Winery, a temple to fine wine, fine art, and inventive architecture. The wineries visited in future years may change, but you can be assured they will be Napa producers well worth knowing.

The cruise was only a long-weekend getaway, but I had seen so much and done it all in such a satisfying manner. For a visitor to San Francisco, this would be an easy add-on. Spirit of Discovery's sister ship, Spirit of Endeavour, also does the honors as the ships rotate duties. Alaska Sightseeing-Cruise West, the ships' operator, is the only cruise company doing this route, re-creating travel on these historic Bay and Delta waterways.

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CRUISING SAN FRANCISCO AND THE DELTA: IF YOU GO

For further information, contact your travel agent or Alaska Sightseeing Cruise West, Fourth and Battery Building, Suite 700, Seattle, WA 98121, 206/441-8867, 800/888-9378.

This article was written by Lee Foster of Foster Travel Publishing. Contact him at his website www.fostertravel.com or via email at lee@fostertravel.com. Copyright Lee Foster.

Lee Foster's most recent travel guidebooks are Northern California History Weekends (Globe Pequot), which won a Lowell Thomas Award, and Adventure Guide to Northern California (Hunter Publishing).

Lee Foster's new literary book is Travels in an American Imagination: The Spiritual Geography of Our Time.

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