impressionistic painting of the san francisco bay in blue and gold
(Painting by Colleen Haraden-Gorski)

For open-water swimmers like me, autumn in San Francisco Bay is a halcyon moment between the punishing winds of summer and the frigid swells of winter. It’s the one season when both water and air are calm and warm. 

Early fall is also the saltiest time of year. To me, the autumn Bay tastes like very briny chicken soup. In winter and spring when rain and snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada dilute the seawater, it’s more palatable—only a third as saline.

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Susan Kuramoto Moffat has written for the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, and Estuary News from places including Tokyo, Seoul, Southern California, and San Francisco Bay Area. She is working on a book about urban wilds.