40 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {due west} PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: FELIPE PASSALACQUA / FELIPE PASSALACQUA / CONOR JAY - THE MARINE MAMMAL CENTER ECLECTIC ADVENTURES Sausalito also presents some one-of-a-kind excursions. Bay Model Visitor Center introduces visitors to a colossal (and operational) 1.5-acre model of the San Francisco Bay Estuary watershed. Meticulously replicating the region’s intricate network of ship channels, canals, rivers and sloughs, this hydraulic model can simulate tides and currents. Peruse at your own pace or join a docentled tour on Saturdays at 11AM. Another educational adventure awaits at the Marine Mammal Center, which cares for sick and injured pinnipeds. What began as a modest operation of only a few bathtubs and a fence back in 1975 has morphed into a state-of-the-art research hospital and educational center with an army of 1,400 volunteers. Take the docent-led tour to see everything from the laboratory to the kitchen where they blend the fish smoothies. Then drop in on the flippered patients at the observation deck. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to watch a hunting lesson for pups separated too early from their mothers. (They call it “fish school.”) the mat is your paddleboard and the ocean is your studio. If you’d rather be aboard than on a board, Modern Sailing School and Club offers lessons—or skippered sails, for those who prefer someone else takes the helm. GET IN THOSE STEPS After picking up a cardamom rose latte or white chocolate cappuccino at Firehouse Coffee & Tea, it’s time for a stroll. Walk the Bridgeway Promenade and visit the elephant statues at nearby Viña del Mar Park—or cut across Bridgeway Street and climb one of the terraced stairways for stunning neighborhoods and a bird’s eye view. You might also choose to stop by Sausalito’s famous floating homes at Waldo Point Harbor. The place drew beatniks, artists and hippies back in the 1940s and ‘50s, some of whom made homes out of converted ferries—or in one case, nailed horse-drawn streetcars to a raft. Today, you’ll find 400 or so dwellings along plank-lined paths crowded with potted plants. To hear more about the area’s historic vessels as well as listen to some “salty waterfront tales,” join the Sausalito Wooden Boat Tour for an excursion that concludes with tea and cookies. If you feel up to a brisk hike, stop by the 170-yearold Point Bonita Lighthouse. You’ll need to follow a steep half-mile trail and traverse a tunnel to reach her—but she’s well worth a visit. The tunnel only opens on select days and closes at 3:20PM sharp, so check first and plan accordingly. Prefer to pick up the pace? Score a set of wheels at Unlimited Biking or Blazing Saddles and cruise down the coastline with the ocean breeze at your back. At the Marine Mammal Center, do not be alarmed by any alien screams you hear. Though it might sound like the clinic is studying extraterrestrials, it’s just the seals speaking up. Years ago, the sound designer for the Lord of the Rings films came to the center to record its patients. The howl of the film’s malevolent orcs are voiced by elephant seal pups, while the bark of the uruks are acutally sea lions.
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