Suisun & the Napa River

The Bay of San Francisco contains other bays as well. The biggest one is San Pablo Bay, to the north. A series of small islands, used by hunters are off the well-beaten path, and it is there that we directed our interests today. Salt marshes, where the bull rush and the tule, as well as the cattail and the California rose grow. An interesting series of birds were to be seen, among them rails, ducks, cormorants and gulls, and the inevitable predators: different hawks! The old-timer that attracted everyone’s attention was an old goat, a monstrous animal that year after year is to be seen at the same place.

Around midday we were in the vicinity of a fleet of old Navy ships of WWII, where we had the commentary by Jim Rawls about the history of these old derelicts. Well, mostly derelicts. Some of them had the three colors of the US flag painted on their smokestacks, meaning they could be ready for duty in three days, but the others were sadly abandoned. Among them was the USS Iowa, of the Iowa class, the largest of the US battleships ever built, and soon to become a visitor center for tourists.

After lunch, we had repositioned to the Napa River, at Cuttings Wharf, where we had a good series of Zodiac trips into the marshes there, in the San Pablo Wildlife Refuge. Birds were quite abundant, especially hawks and falcons, as well as the seed eaters. At the same time, a group, led by William, made a short walk around the riverside and the planted tree area, where a good number of wild plants were seen, as well as a good number of organic fruit off the trees were collected (with the owner’s permission, of course!).

In the evening, we had Lindblad Expeditions’ Executive chef Gary Jenanyan, and others join us and talk to us about wines, and the excellent food to be consumed. Dinner was an excellent repast!