san francisco bay model

Or those with a small child inside. This is one of the last U.S. Army Corps of Engineers working models. It was a must felid trip for us kids that grew up in Marin and a must stop for our children. It is located in the heart of Sausalito and makes a great stop that you will not see on some guide books. Right next to the model is a great kayak rent place to get a up-close look at the bay.

I thought the Bay Model was only going to be a topographical scale model of the SF Bay. I was pleasantly surprised to find that while it was to scale, it was immense. The self-guided tour was free, except for the $3 fee if you wanted a headset to listen to at each stop along the tour. Very interesting to actually see the tides coming in & out and to learn about how & why the Army Corps of Engineers designed the bay to what it looks like today. It is also adjacent to the old WWII shipbuilding center & current marine center. We spent 3 hours there & didn't quite finish by closing time at 4:00 - so go early so you have time to see everything. A great way to spend a rainy day or if you have a lot of time.

Learn about the history of the ship building and tides here. An amazing bldg. filled with a scale working model of the Bay Area and you can watch the tides actually come in and out. Really a lovely place. Awesome for kids too. Docents will walk you around the old shipyards and give you a history too.

We walked from the ferry at Saulsalito to the Bay Model. It really is worth going to just for the shear scale it. It's free to go in & when we visited there was only a couple of other people in there. Fantastic way to spend a couple of hours or so.

This is a wonderful place to take anyone that might be interested in learning about the tide patterns of the bay.

This giant model is awesome. It is to scale, but the water is deeper to allow for scientific observation. There is a film introducing elements, and you can just wander around the entire Bay watershed. The only difficulty is that there is minimal signage guiding people walking from town, which presented neat waterfront parks and pathway and then a warehouse district.

The scale is awesome and the scientific information about the environment complexity and interaction is very interesting. You can spend 3 to 4 hours or more, but go even if you only have an hour to at least get the 'cliff notes' version.Informative and well presented. Creation is so interrelated, that one element can't possibly exist for hours, let alone decades without the other components.

I was truly overwhelmed when I walked into the main floor of this place. 100,000 sq ft scale model of San Francisco harbor. It is hard to describe how cool this place is as it really sounds geeky. But basically engineers and environmentalists built a full scale model of the bay to evaluate some projects starting in the 1950s. So, every few minutes the entire model goes from low tide to high tide. Now, all of this can be done on computer simulations. So, they turned the model into a great museum on the bay. With a geek or a model builder, you could spend hours here. But 60-90 minutes is more than enough. Skip the audio tour and movie and just walk around the main room. Also, the exhibit on Marin City - a giant ship building yard at the site during WWII was amazing. The changes that WWII brought to small towns is worth remembering.

I went along grudgingly with the hubby. Found I spent more time than him. Very interesting historical piece as well as current info regarding the bay.

We found this site while driving through Sausalito. If you like science at all you'll find this to be very interesting. It's got history, science, education and best of all it's free. When we were there it was operating normally and you could watch the water levels cycle from low to high tide and back. The thought that went into the model of this scale is somewhat awe inspiring.There's an educational video and exhibits throughout. Being able to walk up to a piece of history is pretty cool. Given the cost of most things in the area it was refreshing to find a free venue.

This Corps of Engineers model of the water flow in the SF Bay is a staple of the Sausalito tourist scene and a class trip for countless Bay Area kids - it's huge, colorful and interesting. Basically it is a huge topographical map that requires an entire building to illustrate and demonstrate water flow. Educational -- and in its own way sort of fun to experience. It's not Disneyland... but from an educational standpoint Walt would approve.

Don't expect high tech, but let a docent show you around. Shows the Bay and how future construction could effect it.

Without good understanding and appropriate actions through the bay model, we would not be able to enjoy the beautiful Bay Area.

Go and see. It's free although we made a small donation. Lots of informative displays. It is starting to show it's age but that for not detract from the sheer scale and brilliance of the model. Great to kill a hour or so.

During a Kayak Trip in Sausalito the guide told the group about the Bay Model. What a fascinating place! I wished that we had known about it before the Kayak Trip for it put the Bay Area in a logical easy to see Model. Every 4 minutes the model changes from low to high tide. We happen to be there when a person from the Marine Mammal Rescue Center was in the lobby giving a talk about sea lions and harbor seals. Her talk was so fascinating that two days later we visited the Rescue center. Both experiences were well worth our time.