winairtravel

If you have been frequenting San Francisco as a visitor, you are likely to ask what else is new in the city by the bay.   Well, we actually asked ourselves that question on a recent visit to the city with my sister’s family and some friends from the Philippines and Japan.

Hmmm we were thinking, the Golden Gate Bridge is still not golden.  The eternally chilly, foggy summers are still persistent.

The legendary cable cars are still packed and Alcatraz still mesmerizes.  Finally, we got an answer : the Rocket Boat!

It is a 30-minute thrilling ride on San Francisco Bay.  It has been dubbed as the roller coaster on the sea!

The area around the famous Fisherman’s Wharf signage became our base on that day.  With a number of youngsters in tow we started walking four blocks away to Pier 39 to buy the tickets for the thrilling ride.

Just as we arrived at the boarding station and purchased our tickets, the boat was just leaving for the 30-minute ride. We actually made a mistake of purchasing the slow boat cruise to the Golden Gate Bridge.  Our friends from Japan continued to board the slow boat but my sister’s family and I exchanged our tickets for the Rocket Boat ride as the kids wanted some excitement rather than just board a boring cruise ship.

We just stayed in the Pier 39 area and waited until the boat came back.

Finally we saw the boat heading back!

And then we were ready to board!

At the boat’s entrance, everyone was given a transparent plastic coat as protection from the splashing water during the ride.

My sister’s family were ready.

so I was….

..and the others too!

The boat slowly cruised its way to San Francisco Bay passing by the resting sea lions, Pier 39’s most famous residents.

In a few minutes we were on the bay with a magnificent view of the city.

Then the boat went up, went down, made sharp turns, 360ed and it was really a roller coaster on the waters aptly accompanied by Heart’s Barracuda music!

A victory sign for the ride!

Then we approached the Bay Bridge…

…crossed it…

…cruised right underneath it that if it would break into two, we would definitely perish!

Then a number of times we just went around the two-decked bridge……

…..enjoying the city views that you can’t get aboard those normal cruise ships as they go the opposite way.

We even stopped to take a closer look of the AT&T Park from the bay.

And it was time to head back to Pier 39. Was the $24 worth it?  Absolutely! Everyone had the ride of their life on the bay!

As we drove up and out of the city, it was the same feeling I had every time I depart from America’s most captivating city by the bay.