Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
SITTIN' ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY
Soul singer Otis Redding and guitarist Steve Cropper wrote what has become
the bay's signature song, and Redding's best-selling album, in the late 1960s.
Redding came up with the first line—“I watch the ships come in and I watch
them roll away again”—while staying in a houseboat on the Sausalito water-
front. On radio station playlists ever since, the song strikes a familiar chord for
most Bay Area residents.
gracing the levee-tops and waterfronts, or take their city dogs to romp
along the wide open spaces of a bay beach.
But the bay attracts more than those in search of exercise or family
time. People leap from the Golden Gate in their hour of despair, or sip
champagne on a bay cruise in their hour of celebration. Blue Angels zoom
over the bay during Fleet Week, fireworks burst over the water on the
Fourth of July, and fireboats spew fountains into a crowd of sailboats dur-
ing April's Opening Day on the Bay.
Equally riveting can be the natural wonders that appear on San Fran-
cisco's watery doorstep. In 1985, a 36-ton Humpback Whale dubbed
“Humphrey” wandered delta waterways for over a month. It took a flotilla
of boats banging on steel pipes to make enough noise—a Japanese fishing
technique known as
oikami
—to drive him back to sea. In May 2007, the
Avocets showing off the orange plumage of breeding season. (Robert M. Chilvers)
