The following article was copied from sacbee.com as it was originally published on August 14, 2005
"http://www.sacbee.com/content/travel/bee/story/13405517p-14246784c.html"
Photo Caption: Passengers enjoy the scenery from the top deck of the Bay Breeze as it cruises toward San Francisco. - Sacramento Bee/Florence Low
Bay Breezing: Sailing along on the Delta
By Dixie Reid -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Sunday, August 14, 2005
The Sacramento River Delta, as anyone who ventures onto its winding levee roads can attest, is a charming place dotted with orchards, islands, tiny towns, Victorian dwellings and the occasional, hopeful fisherman poised along its banks.
And so when a brochure arrived with the invitation, "Cruise the wonders of the Sacramento River Delta," the imagination wandered to tales of the 1920s, when luxurious steamboats carried passengers overnight along the river between Sacramento and San Francisco.
So what were we doing in the Sacramento Deep Water Channel, chugging out of the Port of Sacramento in West Sacramento on an off-duty commuter ferry?
"It'd take 8 1/2 hours to get there if we went on the Sacramento River," said Willie Feltus, who with his wife, Lorraine, books these excursions between Sacramento and San Francisco for Alameda-based Harbor Bay Maritime.
Via the straightforward channel, which runs roughly parallel to the lazily meandering Sacramento River, the trip will take less than four hours. It'll take about half that time to meet up with the river around Rio Vista, and then it's on to more picturesque sights.
The Sacramento Deep Water Channel is a routine route for oceangoing cargo ships that carry rice, lumber and fertilizer in and out of the Port of Sacramento.
On occasion, it's visited by the Bay Breeze, a 100-ton, high-speed catamaran that on weekdays ferries commuters between Alameda and San Francisco. The cat travels at a top speed of 26 knots, or about 28 mph.
And so it was, on a recent summer Sunday morning, that 120 day travelers found themselves boarding the ferry at the Port of Sacramento. Before long, several folks had a breakfast Bloody Mary in hand and claimed a spot along the deck railings.
Most of the passengers seemed ready for a relaxing adventure and some relief from the relentless Central Valley heat. The "Gilligan's Island" theme song - " ... a tale of a fateful trip/ That started from this tropic port/ aboard this tiny ship" - drew some chuckles when it was played on the loudspeakers.
Each passenger paid $140.50, which included a one-way boat ride, an onboard buffet lunch, a return trip by Amtrak, parking at the Sacramento train station and a shuttle ride between the station and the port. (The Saturday excursions start with a train ride from Sacramento to San Francisco and a cruise back.)
As the Bay Breeze set off down the ship channel, which is basically a wide ditch, trip narrator and transportation historian Bill Stritzel promised, "This is good, but it'll get better."
He recounted high points in the history of Delta-area waterways. For instance, he said, the passenger paddle-wheelers Delta Queen and Delta King plied the Sacramento River in the 1920s. (The Delta King now operates as a hotel, restaurant and theater in Old Sacramento. The Delta Queen was relocated to New Orleans.)
"They would leave at the same time, one from Sacramento, the other from San Francisco, traveling at 6 to 8 knots. There was always wagering on board about what time they would pass each other," he said.
No gambling here, but bingo, history trivia games and the call to line up for lunch helped pass the time as the boat made its way down the 47-mile-long ship channel.
At Rio Vista, where a faint Delta breeze passed by, the water suddenly became dotted with personal watercraft bouncing along the wake of the Bay Breeze. Kiteboarders and windsurfers by the dozens were having a good time off Sherman Island.
Feltus has booked these excursions for six years and made the trip countless times. Still, he said, he looks forward to certain landmarks: the Rio Vista bridge rising to accommodate the Bay Breeze passing beneath; the ghostly "mothball fleet" of retired ships moored near Benicia; the old C&H Sugar refinery at Crockett; and the East Brother Light Station, now operating as a bed-and-breakfast on an island in the straits separating San Francisco and San Pablo bays.
Expensive sailboats became more plentiful as the Bay Breeze neared San Francisco and passed such familiar landmarks as Angel Island State Park, once home to a Nike missile base, and the infamous former federal prison on Alcatraz Island, now managed by the National Park Service.
The Bay Breeze moved into a fog bank that shrouded the Golden Gate Bridge, four miles away. Some passengers were shivering happily in their lightweight, Sacramento-summer attire.
The silhouette of San Francisco's skyline grew larger, as folks pointed out Coit Tower, the Transamerica Pyramid and the Palace of Fine Arts.
"I feel like a glorified bus driver," joked Bay Breeze Capt. Paul Bishop, before he guided the boat into a slot alongside San Francisco's Ferry Building. It was exactly 2 p.m., just 3 hours and 45 minutes since the tour group left West Sacramento.
"We will do it again," said Elk Grove marketing executive Chenita Bradley, who had brought 11 people along to celebrate her mother's birthday. "We loved the boat ride, the food, the bingo. We like to do things together, and this way you can go out and come back home in one day and not burn vacation time."
The Bradley clan and other passengers disembarked and scattered to explore the chi-chi food shops inside the renovated Ferry Building Marketplace and enjoy the cool breezes off the waterfront. After a while, everyone boarded an Amtrak bus for the Emeryville station, where an eastbound train awaited.
Unlike the "Gilligan's Island" characters who set sail on a three-hour tour and never came home, these day-trippers were back in Sacramento before sunset.
Harbor Bay Maritime Delta Cruise
Location: Sacramento to and from San FranciscoDates: Saturday and Sundays; Aug. 27-28, Sept. 17-18 and Sept. 24-25
Details: On Saturdays, passengers take Amtrak from Sacramento to Emeryville and are bused into San Francisco, where they board the Bay Breeze and cruise to the Port of Sacramento. On Sundays, the Bay Breeze departs from the Port of Sacramento, with passengers returning to Sacramento via Amtrak.
Cost: $125 per person for the cruise, lunch and train ride is due upon booking. Passengers pay an additional $10 shuttle fee and $5.50 for parking.
Information and reservations: (916) 399-9342 or info@deltarivercruise.com
About the writer:
- The Bee's Dixie Reid can be reached at (916) 321-1134 or dreid@sacbee.com.
After the Bay Breeze docks at the Port of San Francisco, passengers are free to sightsee around the area. The return trip to Sacramento is via Amtrak. Sacramento Bee/Florence Low
Chenita Bradley goes through the boat's buffet line for a lunch of chicken, pasta primavera, salad and a roll. Sacramento Bee/Florence Low
Sacramento Bee/Florence Low
Sacramento Bee
