San Francisco: Whale Watching, Dungeons, Wax, Fisherman's Wharf, and submarines

Ben and I jammed just about as much as we could into our fourth day in San Francisco. We started the day off bright and early on a whale watching tour. We decided not to take any pictures because 

#1 We thought let's just enjoy the experience

#2 We were standing and holding onto the railing of the boat as it drove out to the ocean. It was quite a bumpy ride. I did not want to get thrown into the ocean because I was taking a picture. I also did not want to get the camera soaking wet. My pants were pretty drenched at the end of the tour.

We rode out of the bay, under the Golden Gate bridge and quite a ways out into the ocean. We saw a sea lion, and a lot of porpoius which was so neat. Finally after nearly an hour and a half on the water we saw a group of Humpback Whales. When we initially saw them we only were able to see their water spouts shoot into the air. Once we got closer we could see them swimming along as their back and dorsal fin would breech above the water. After a few breathes they would dive deeper into the ocean and their fluke would come out of the water. Being able to see the whales out in their natural environment. To watch their grace and beauty was an invigorating experience. It was quite amazing. 

The remainder of our day was fun, but just could not live up to the whale watching tour. We went to the Aquarium at the bay on Fisherman's Wharf. We walked around some of the shops and got amazing burritos for lunch. We were expecting to see tons of Sea Lions out on the Pier of Fisherman's Wharf and were surprised when we walked over and saw a whopping total of six. The Sea Lion center informed us that it was breeding season and many had left for this reason. The ones that remain are typically the Sea Lions who are too young to breed.

We bought a two day San Francisco pass and so our fourth and fifth day consisted of going to as many places included in this pass as possible. We wanted to get the most bang for our buck. Following our time on Fisherman's Wharf we went to Madam Tussauds Wax Museum. We were able to meet Al Kapone, Jackie Chan, Taylor Swift, a Velociraptor, E.T., Johnny Depp, and Leonardo Dicaprio.

We may or may not have been arrested after someone recognized us from our wanted posters.

Arrested for a stabbing incident? Of course not!

Just guilty of being the most amazing parents ever is all!

Following the wax museum we walked through Ripley's Believe it our Not. We also did the San Fransisco Dungeons, a tourist attraction with actors that recreate events that took place in San Francisco's history. It was quite cheesy! Ben and I would recommend a ghost tour of San Francisco over the Dungeons. It still has its spooky moments, but gives a better history of the city. We really enjoyed our ghost tour. Of course it wouldn't have been quite as amazing it was not done by a drag queen!

We also had the opportunity to take an audio tour of the USS Pampanito.

The USS Pampanito was built in 1943. It was a WWII submarine built to dive up to 400 feet. Which is 100 feet deeper than the previous class of submarine. On its first patrol it dived an incredible 600 feet to avoid Japanese ships.

The submarines crew consisted of 70 crewmen and 10 officers. The crewmen had to share their bed, there was only 60 bunks on the submarine. They also shared three toilets, two sinks, and two showers! It was close quarters. They had to have rotating shifts not only to sleep but also to eat.

 The USS Pampanito went out of six war patrols during WWII. Each war patrol lasted about 45-60 days. I cannot imagine what it would have been like living in such tight quarters with so many other men! 

On the Pampanito's third war patrol, along with two other submarines, it helped sink two Japanese boats and damaged a third. Unfortunately, one of the boats that was sunk was transporting over a thousand British and Australian POW's. The Japanese survivors were rescued by one of the Japanese vessels and the POW's in the water were abandoned  The Pampanito moved back into the area of the attack and found men clinging to makeshift rafts. Pampanito was able to pick up 73 survivors and called in for three other subs to assist with the rescue. Despite their attempts 1,159 POW's died. In addition to the 70 crewmen they added an additional 73 to the close quarters on the submarine for the journey home, 143 men!

Officer quarters

During the Pampanito's six war patrols it sunk six Japanese vessels, damaged four others. We really enjoyed the tour of the Pampanito and loved learning a little bit more of the history from WWII.

That evening, Ben and I enjoyed a delicious sour dough bread bowl with chili for dinner and for dessert we had a sundae from Ghirardelli Square. It was a full day!