Savoring Sausalito

Sausalito

Town Square - Sausalito

Bay-Delta Model Education Center

We spent a couple of days touring Sausalito and found that it reminded us of Kirkland, an enclave of boutiques, cafes, and art shops situated along a pretty waterfront with the addition of Palm Trees. Although Sausalito has a relatively small population, it draws both locals and tourists from the greater Bay Area. The sidewalks were bustling with people and we sometimes felt like fish swimming upstream. We walked back towards our marina and stopped to visit the interesting “San Francisco Bay-Delta Model” - a three-dimensional model representing the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento / San Joaquin River Delta System, which simulates tides, currents, and river flows. The working hydraulic Model covers over 1.5 acres and was built in 1957 by the Corps of Engineers for the purpose of scientific research to evaluate flow characteristics of the water within the estuary and to make assessments regarding the impact of man’s activities. The Model was opened to the public when it became an education center in 2001. We found it to be quite impressive, made up of 286 concrete slabs that rest on adjustable jacks. Pumps circulate more than 100,000 gallons of water through the Model to simulate tides and currents, while embedded copper strips permit adjustment of frictional resistance. Viewing the Model really helped us grasp the enormity and complexity of the Bay Area waterways – its rivers, streams, channels, coves, canals, and bays that create the largest estuary on the West Coast. The Bay Area estuary drains approximately 40 percent of California water flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers from the Sierra Mountains, depositing sediment in the Bay. The average water depth in San Francisco Bay is only 12-15 feet with the deepest part under the Golden Gate Bridge. The Corps of Engineers maintains frequent dredging in San Francisco Bay and its two major rivers, creating underwater channels for cargo ships and large pleasure boats to follow. Of course being boaters from the Pacific Northwest, this seems quite confining compared to the deep open waters of Lake Washington, Puget Sound, and our Island paradise to the north. The building that houses the Bay Model is also a treasure - it formally served as the warehouse for the "Marinship" Shipyards during WWII which built Liberty Ships and Oil Tankers, a small segment of the Education Center includes a history of the shipyards.