Laying on the beach at Crissy Field on a 90-degree afternoon is pretty cool for a lot of reasons, so I did it two days in a row. Here’s a list of stuff I saw:
- Little red helicopter doing acrobatics over and under the Golden Gate Bridge
- “Horizon Lines” container ship entering the bay
- Soooo many pelicans, feeding
- Kitesurfers racing back and forth in formation
- Little boat full of crab cages racing back into the bay
- Three helicopters chasing each other all over the Bay Area
- Kitesurfers hauling ass out into the shipping channel to surf the wake of inbound container ships
- A couple swearing really loudly a lot (“Jesus FUCKING Christ,” he says to their dog; “SHIIIIIT,” she says to him, “Do you have the keys!?!?”
- Other picnickers looking jealous of my 4505 Burgers & BBQ picnic
- Two seals racing out toward the Golden Gate
- Uggo brown haze over the Berkeley Hills
- A guy in an oceangoing outrigger kayak HAULING ASS toward the Marina
- A majestic great blue heron in our path, and then in flight
- Brian Merritt and Rob Queenin taking a stroll
- Celebrity cruise ship departing the bay
- “Golden Energy” container ship entering the bay (I swam in its wake)
- State-of-the-art racing sailboats in training
- A guy that really really looked like Morrissey
- Coast Guard helicopter going back and forth along Crissy Field for like an hour
- The same little boat full of crab cages racing back into the bay again
- A couple that you could tell were rockabilly even though they were in swimsuits (maybe it’s the hair; maybe it’s the body language)
- Other picnickers looking jealous of my Courtney’s picnic
- A cool beetle crawling up the strap of my Dolores Chiller
- A really janky old boat puttering around (it was so old and janky it looked fake, but it was apparently seaworthy)
- A crusty old hobo-type who said something to our dog and pronounced dog “dōg”
- Some Europeans all in white (white shorts, white bikini, white wristwatch, white blanket, white towels, white accessories, etc.)
- Another European making lots of 360-degree selfies with a GoPro on a stick
- A seal bobbing around right where I’d been swimming 10 minutes prior!
- A guy in an oceangoing outrigger kayak slowly paddling toward the Marina
- “Horizon Lines” container ship leaving the bay
- Group of seals performing *full breach* after *full breach* omg
- 1 million dogs
- When it comes to beach activities, surfing often comes to mind as a quintessential experience.
- For beach enthusiasts looking to dive into the waves, learning to surf can be invaluable. It’s about being prepared to catch those perfect swells and enjoy the ocean’s rhythm.
- If you’re considering taking up surfing, checking out the Waikiki surf school website could be a great start to mastering the waves and making the most of your beach days.
- Surfing offers such a unique connection with the ocean and mastering those waves can be incredibly rewarding.
[Photo and additional reporting by Jess Kelso]
https://youtu.be/s2vQoUnLHr4