I had first heard about the RocketBoat months ago from my mom. She raved about this boat she saw on the Bay whipping back and forth. As she watched from Fisherman’s Wharf, she said it looked like it was doing donuts in the water. Although it looked like something fun, she put it on hold until a better occasion was upon was.
Fast-forward a year later and my sister was turning thirty years old. Now my sister’s not a typical girly girl; she doesn’t enjoy girly things like going shopping, getting her nails done, or even eating at fancy restaurants, she’s more of an adrenaline junkie. Just as my mom and I were having a hard time trying to plan her the perfect birthday, an old memory popped into our heads at almost the same time, “The RocketBoat!”
Getting 0n the Boat
The next day we headed out to Fisherman’s Wharf. What’s nice about the RocketBoat is that you pay on arrival and then just show up at the time you want to ride. This way you don’t have to buy a ticket for a specific time. They advise you show up thirty minutes before any of the boat times and stand in line to get seats.
The boats run May-October and start around 1030am everyday, and go almost every hour until 5pm. So let’s say you buy the tickets at 11am but want to get lunch first…then you’d just show up at a later time, like a 1:45pm boat time, just arriving 30 minutes early to get in line. We did that and it worked out perfectly.
After we chowed down on some fresh crab and delectable sourdough clam chowder bowls further down on the Wharf, we headed to stand in line for our RocketBoat. It was a sunny Friday afternoon and to our luck, we were the first in line! Fitting as it was my sister’s birthday and we were going to be getting our first choice of seats.
The Ride
We boarded the boat and sat right in front for obvious reasons, we wanted the best views. Immediately we were greeted with an overzealous man who started to get us pumped up for our thirty-minutes of fun on the Bay. I’ve lived in the Bay Area my entire life but sadly I’ve only been on the actual Bay once.
As the boat started to go, we first we passed the loud screeching seals sunbathing on the docks. You could hear the excitement of the little kids on the boat. I’m not embarrassed to admit I was really excited too, the seals were so cute and made the funniest noises.
Just after we passed the seals and waved to people watching from the end of the Wharf, our captain cranked up the rock music and put the pedal to the metal. First, we passed Alcatraz!
I don’t get scared easily but we went from zero to fast quickly. It was a rush. Everyone on the boat started hooting and hollering as we headed for the Bay Bridge. We were all loving it. At some points it even felt like we were going to tip right over into the water, but our captain had us in good hands.
For the next thirty minutes the boat took us around the Bay giving us the best views of the city, going under the Bay Bridge and all the way to At & T Park.
By the end of the ride I had seen the Bay in ways I never knew possible. My hair was a mess, but it was so worth it. If you’re in the Bay Area and looking for a fun day on the Bay, the RocketBoat is your answer!
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