Explore the Bay by Ferry, by Helen J. Doyle, published on Bay Nature, March 16, 2023
Before the bridges, there were ferries. In the mid-1930s, before the Golden Gate and Bay bridges were completed, over 50 million people crossed the Bay by ferry annually. And yet, to promote use of these massive public works projects, the California State Legislature banned passenger ferry service across the Bay, leading to the elimination of ferries by the mid-1950s.
Fortunately, today the Bay is once again transected by daily ferries. What’s more, they’re environmentally friendly, relaxing, and cheap—a trip from San Francisco to Richmond, for example, costs just $4.50 for a beautiful 35-minute journey. So for the past several months, I’ve been exploring what I can see of the Bay by ferry.
By boat, I’ve learned, you get a sense of how thoroughly—for good or ill—people have manipulated San Francisco Bay’s 400 miles of shoreline, building landfill, ports, railroad terminals, channels, bridges, and extensive military and industrial infrastructure.
But you also see the Bay’s transition to a more “natural” state, healthier for nature and for people. Restoration efforts are visible as tidal wetlands, redeveloped shoreline parks, and the Bay Trail.
There is magic in boarding a ferry at San Francisco’s Ferry Building. From there, I can transport myself to other worlds, just across the Bay, and explore them on foot or by bike. Here are two of the five places that delighted me. (For more, read the full article here).
Arriving at Alameda’s Main Street Ferry Terminal, I’m reminded that Alameda, like Oakland across the channel, is a busy port. Cargo ships with containers stacked high dwarf the ferry. Commercial, military, and government ships are festooned in scaffolding for repairs. Dock workers zip supplies around by bicycle. I’m mesmerized watching this activity and disoriented by the scale of the human-built environment. At the ferry terminal, a short stretch of the Bay Trail lined with sculptures describes Alameda’s maritime history (one of the sculptures, a coiled-up rope, has been aptly nicknamed the Doo Doo Sculpture).
But Alameda is an island where nature and green spaces co-exist with the working shoreline.
On Main Street, I come upon the nonprofit Ploughshares Nursery, a native plant nursery. Here also live rescued domesticated pigeons and doves. Next door is the Maker Farm, a ramshackle collection of artists’ studios and public maker spaces in shipping containers. These two sites, and the Farm2Market next door, are part of the Alameda Point Collaborative (APC), a nonprofit organization that helps unhoused people find supportive housing in the former military barracks nearby.
At Farm2Market, volunteers invite me to wander through the orchard and beds, abundant with kale and other autumn veggies. Farm2Market is a community-supported agriculture site that trains and employs people who are now living in APC-supported housing. I’m struck by the contrasting juxtaposition of these natural spaces, built on human compassion and optimism, with the nearby port and military structures.
The Main Street Linear Park, a green space lined with young redwood trees and rainwater swales, appears to be developing into a beautiful greenway. It takes me to Encinal Beach, a wilder place. Here, Alameda’s shoreline offers beaches and a rocky breakwater wall where great blue herons hunt. On a concrete float offshore, harbor seals have hauled out to rest. The shoreline also offers an adventure in rambling and scrambling over rocks at low tide and through residential neighborhoods, as sections of the Bay Trail between Encinal Beach and the popular Crab Cove and Crown Memorial State Beach do not yet connect. I’ll return another day to follow the Bay Trail south from Crab Cove to the Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary, one of the Bay’s last remaining salt marshes. You could also visit the USS Hornet, a decommissioned aircraft carrier, and catch a ferry from Sea Plane Terminal nearby.
As the ferry approaches Richmond, I see another industrial shoreline—here, ships are built and autos assembled, among other industries. Next to the ferry terminal, though, is a dramatic silvery sculpture called Changing Tides, inspired by the eel grass that creates habitat for marine wildlife. There, clear interpretive and wayfinding signs give me a friendly welcome.
Here, the shipbuilding industry attracted women and people of color into the workforce, helping make Richmond and the Bay Area more diverse. This social history comes to life at the free Rosie the Riveter World War II/Home Front National Historical Park Visitor Center, just east of the ferry landing. It’s well worth a visit. But Richmond carries the weight of decades of environmental contamination from these industries, too: extensive fencing and danger signs interspersed along the shoreline’s new housing development. There are many places apparently unsafe to tread.
I learn more about Richmond’s history through interpretive signage along the Bay Trail. The city has developed more of the Bay Trail and connections than most other Bay communities: 36 miles of trails with just 6 miles of gaps. The paved, accessible Marina Bay Trail section offers views of Angel and Brooks Islands and the San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland skylines, as well as frequent benches, picnic tables, and clean restrooms (a free trail guide is available at the Rosie the Riveter Visitor Center or online here).
Further along, the developed shoreline transitions to a more natural tidal wetland. Since the tide is low, I veer off the paved trail at Shimada Park to walk along the beach towards the mudflats of Meeker Slough. It teems with shorebirds—snowy egrets, great blue herons, double-crested cormorants, coots, American avocets, curlews, willets, and others. Bikers or hikers can follow Meeker Slough towards El Cerrito and Albany.
I head back towards the ferry along the Meeker Tidal Creek, where ducks and other water birds forage along exposed mudflats. At the marina I come upon a black-crowned night heron, out early for dinner (the Assemble Marketplace next to the Rosie the Riveter Visitor Center serves up human food and drink, too). That evening, the relaxing return ferry ride to San Francisco rewards me with a beautiful sunset and lit-up SF skyline.
How to get on a ferry
• Ferry maps and schedules. For East and North Bay, you’ll take the San Francisco Bay Ferry. For Angel Island and Marin, it’s the Golden Gate Ferry. From San Francisco, one-way ticket prices vary from $4.50 (to East Bay destinations) to $9 (to Vallejo). Clipper Card is an easy way to pay and to get youth, senior, low-income, and transfer discounts.
• Bikes can be brought onto ferries for free, if space allows.
• San Francisco Bay Trail maps are available from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
About the Author
Helen J. Doyle is a California Naturalist and educator dedicated to the environment, public education, and equity and justice. A biologist by training, she shares her love of nature as a docent and writer. She volunteers with several Bay Area organizations, such as Año Nuevo State Park, the San Francisco Botanical Garden, Nature in the City, and the Amah Mutsun Land Trust’s Native Plant Stewardship program.