While at Fisherman's Wharf visiting the Aquarium of the Bay and Marine Mammal Store and watching the antics of the sea lions, we found out that you can actually visit the Marine Mammal Centre/Hospital. We were informed that you needed to catch the number 76 bus to the Marin Headlands which only ran Sundays from a location unknown. This was a positive step forward as we'd previously been told the trip required a car. We consulted our map to discover that the headlands were just after the Golden Gate Bridge. So, we re-jigged plans moving our scheduled visit to the bridge from Saturday to Sunday.
That Sunday we were out early so we could fit everything in. After consulting the fountain of knowledge, otherwise known as the reception staff at the hostel, we headed to the bus stop where we boarded the elusive number 76 (San Francisco bus stops are great in that they tell you when the next 2 buses for every route are due on an ongoing basis - it's like countdown - sorry, little things please little minds and all that). We passed through San Francisco and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge into the Marin Headlands. It was amazing - the best bus ride on a public route ever. We went over the Golden Gate, which felt really long and huge yet at the same time insignificant compared to the ocean, bay and headlands - what a backdrop. Then through a tunnel out we came to the Marin Headlands which was just stunning - a rugged and lush landscape, reminiscent of the Peak District, surrounding a sandy beach enclosed by rocks and mountains. The California sun made it picture perfect. I'm not on commission but I'd recommend this to anyone visiting San Francisco - made us both feel all warm, fuzzy and glad to be alive.
We hopped off the bus then trudged up the hill to the Marine Sealife Centre. On entering the centre there is a model of a sea lion on an examination table (you touch different parts of the body to learn about the examination/diagnosis process) - the point is that this is predominantly a hospital for injured marine mammals not a museum or tourist exhibit. Aside from the veterinary staff it's manned by volunteers and reliant on donations. There was a statue/model of a fully grown elephant seal - it was huge - we both had our photo taken next to him. We then went on to see the patients from the observation areas (absolute silence required so as not to disturb any sleeping animals). These included some very little, very noisy, sad sounding elephant seal pups (a huge contrast to the statue - hopefully they'll grow just as big) and some sea lions. We're pleased to report that there were only 6 patients in the hospital at that time. There wasn't a lot to see but this is probably a good thing as it is about helping the animals but we did make a donation and we made a conscious decision to be better environmentally especially as many of the injuries were due to wastefulness and carelessness. This trip, and our amazing encounter with manatees in Florida, has really made us stop and think.
From here, we headed back down to catch the bus back to the Golden Gate Bridge (we were about 3 miles away at this point). We had hoped to get off the bus on the same side as the headlands so we could walk the entire length of the bridge but as it was all freeway we were taken back across to the San Francisco side. So we hopped off the bus, made a detour under the road to the Golden Gate Gift Shop where we managed to get some nice mementoes. Then we had cameras at the ready to start the walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. The views of San Francisco, the bay, the Marin Headlands and Alcatraz were amazing. As we went further the emptier it became which was nice. We walked the full length of the bridge and back again taking pictures, enjoying the views and generally being touristy. We were a bit disappointed that we couldn't walk down the ocean side as this is reserved for cyclists but it was all good. We went up to the old fortifications (remnants of an old army barracks) to take photos looking out to the ocean and of the bridge from this different perspective. Again, amazing. As the sun began to set, we headed back to the hostel on the next available bus. Later we had a pretty quiet finish to the day again taking some time out, travelling and having full days can be quite tiring but rewarding never the less.