Exploring Nature in the San Francisco Bay Area
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Nature for free, David’s best picks

For the sake of saving money or living more sustainably, the “staycation” is becoming ever more popular. But what can you do to have fun when keeping close to home?

Holly Kernan of KALW 91.7 FM explains on her daily radio show Your Call the many websites listing free things to do in San Francisco. This week she spoke with our head honcho David Loeb, executive director of the Bay Nature Institute and publisher of Bay Nature Magazine, to pick his brain for free things to do outside the concrete jungle.

David’s quick picks:

  • Rodeo Lagoon and Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands offer a great picnic site at the beach and a launching spot into the Marin Headlands. Check out the amazing views of the city.
  • Point Reyes Nat’l Seashore, celebrating its 50th anniversary, has excellent birding in Tomales Bay and Drakes Estero and yields a view quite unlike anything else.
  • East Bay Regional Parks District offers picnic areas and a merry-go-round in Tilden Park to less developed preserves that you can explore for hours without seeing another person. At the moment there are bald eagles nesting in Lake Chabot, just 5 minutes from Oakland.

Little-known gem in South Bay

Natural Swimming Holes

  • Crabcove Visitor’s Center in Alameda offers the natural history of the San Francisco Bay. While you’re there, swim at Crown Beach, one of the only places to saline swim in the Bay area without worrying about an undertow.
  • Lake Anza in Tilden Park just east of Berkeley features a rock jump into the lake.
  • Lake Temescal in Oakland
  • Lake Deval south of Livermore and Shadow Cliffs in Livermore

Bike around the Bay

  • Cycle from San Francisco to Sausalito or Tiburon, taking the Golden Gate across
  • Ride from Emeryville to Richmond using the Bay Trail. At the end of the trail, you can visit the free Rosie the Riverter Museum. With the summer waning, birds are coming back as well, so bring your binoculars!

Guided hikes

Check out the TrailFinder! Find described hikes and parks along with photos!

Plan your winter staycation

  • Free Salmon walks this winter when the Coho begin to return to Lagunitas Creek. Look on SPAWN.org for more information.

Leatherback Turtles Back in Earnest

Pacific Leatherback Turtles have been spotted in the coastal waters south of San Francisco earlier than ever before.

Sightings of sea turtles are rapidly approaching last years’ 23, with 17 showing off their thick shells so far, and it’s earlier than their usual arrival time in August.

“That’s pretty amazing. There’s still a lot that is not known, so every sighting you get is critical,” said Chris Pincetich, marine biologist with SeaTurtles.org.

He relays information on each sighting to marine biologists who are preparing to do field work in early August.

The leatherbacks journey from the Far East to the West Coast of North America to feast on brown sea nettle jellyfish, a culinary adaptation that’s helped ensure the leatherback’s 70 million years of existence.

In early July marine biologists reported the most abundant and dense jellyfish bloom seen in years, Pincetich said. A week later the ancient creatures started showing up, first in Monterey Bay, then by Santa Cruz, and now they are up to Half Moon Bay.

On February 27, 2012, this critical habitat was finalized offshore from San Francisco Bay to protect the leatherback’s feeding grounds.

Life isn’t always easy for the Pacific leatherback turtle, whose population has plummeted by up to 95 percent in past several decades.  The Sea Turtle Restoration Project has pushed for laws to better protect leatherbacks in California. A bill to designate leatherbacks as California’s official state marine reptile is in the Senate, and is expected to pass by September. The bill gives the leatherbacks some extra PR, but more importantly encourages leatherback education in public schools, recording of sightings, and communication about conservation practices with the turtles’ birth home, Indonesia.

In February, almost 17,000 square miles of offshore waters surrounding the San Francisco Bay were deemed a protected marine area for leatherbacks. Activities that harm the jellyfish require special consideration, and drift gillnets have been banned.

“The designation is a huge victory for the sea turtle, protection of its food and the awareness of this creature which is basically a living dinosaur,” Pincetich said.

The fishery regulations don’t take affect until August 15, and there’s no time to lose since a dead leatherback washed ashore in Monterey late last week.

Do you want to see the largest and oldest turtle on earth? SeaTurtles.org is teaming up with whale watching cruises to host several leatherback watch parties from August to October.