Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco CA | Nearby Businesses

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Toll Plaza Golden Gate Bridge
San Francisco, CA 94129
Transit Info: 511 for Golden Gate Bridge Admin OFFICE ONLY: 415-921-5858

The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by the Golden Gate Bridge.GeologyDuring the last Ice Age, when sea level was several hundred feet lower, the waters of the glacier-fed Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River scoured a deep channel through the bedrock on their way to the ocean. The strait is well known today for its depth and powerful tidal currents from the Pacific Ocean. Many small whirlpools and eddies can form in its waters. With its strong currents, rocky reefs and fog, the Golden Gate is the site of over 100 shipwrecks.ClimateThe Golden Gate is often shrouded in fog, especially during the summer. Heat generated in the California Central Valley causes air there to rise, creating a low pressure area that pulls in cool, moist air from over the Pacific Ocean. The Golden Gate forms the largest break in the hills of the California Coast Range, allowing a persistent, dense stream of fog to enter the bay there.

In 1972, in response to a growing awareness of the value of our coastal waters, Congress passed the National Marine Sanctuaries Act. The Act authorized the designation of National Marine Sanctuaries to protect: significant waters and secure habitat for aquatic species, shelter historically significant shipwrecks and other cultural resources, and serve as valuable spots for research, fishing, wildlife viewing, boating, and tourism. The National Marine Sanctuary System consists of 14 marine protected areas that encompass more than 150,000 square miles of marine and Great Lakes waters from Washington State to the Florida Keys, and from Lake Huron to American Samoa. The system includes 13 national marine sanctuaries and the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. Designated in 1981, Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary (GFNMS) spanned 1,279-square-miles (966 square nautical miles) just north and west of San Francisco Bay, and protected open ocean, nearshore tidal flats, rocky intertidal areas, estuarine wetlands, subtidal reefs, and coastal beaches within its boundaries. In 2015, GFNMS expanded north and west of their original boundaries to encompass 3,295 square miles, and changed their name to Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. GFNMS has administrative jurisdiction over the northern portion of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, from the San Mateo/Santa Cruz County line northward to the existing boundary between the two sanctuaries. GFNMS maintains an administrative office and public Visitor Center on Crissy Field in the Presidio of San Francisco. GFNMS is located within the California Current ecosystem, one of four major eastern boundary currents in the world, that stretches along the western coast of North America from southern Canada to northern Mexico. Due to a high degree of wind-driven upwelling, there is a ready supply of nutrients to surface waters and the California Current ecosystem is one of the most biologically productive regions in the world. GFNMS is a globally significant, extraordinarily diverse, and productive marine ecosystem that supports abundant wildlife and valuable fisheries. It provides breeding and feeding grounds for at least twenty-five endangered or threatened species; thirty-six marine mammal species, including blue, gray, and humpback whales, harbor seals, elephant seals, Pacific white-sided dolphins, and one of the southernmost U.S. populations of threatened Steller sea lions; over a quarter-million breeding seabirds; and one of the most significant white shark populations on the planet.

Based in Sausalito at Motor Lifeboat Station Golden Gate, Flotilla 1-2 is fortunate to work side by side with one of the busiest stations in the Coast Guard. We support their work during our summer patrols with windsurfers and kite boarders, and they support our educational activities by teaching classes in our public education courses. Our “Area of Responsibility” or AOR includes all of Richardson’s Bay with the colorful shorelines of Tiburon, Belvedere, and Sausalito. The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary is the uniformed, all-volunteer component of the United States Coast Guard. The Auxiliary was created by an Act of Congress in 1939, and has grown to over 32,000 members who daily support the Coast Guard in all its non-military, and non-law-enforcement missions. We have members and units in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam. Auxiliary members conduct safety patrols on local waterways, assist in search & rescue, teach boating safety classes, conduct free vessel safety checks for the public, provide boating safety literature to dealers, as well as many other activities related to recreational boating safety. The Coast Guard considers the Auxiliary its primary resource for recreational boating safety outreach and prevention, and each Coast Guard district around the nation has established a senior officer and staff to provide tight liaison and coordination between the active-duty Coast Guard and the various Auxiliary units in that district. But the Auxiliary is more than recreational boating safety. We regularly serve alongside our active-duty shipmates serving as communications watchstanders, uninspected passenger vessel inspectors, training resources for air and sea operations, numerious duties related to environmental protection and homeland security, and even as chefs! In fact, there are nearly two dozen "qualifications" open to Auxiliarists willing to put in the time and training. Collectively, Auxiliarists volunteer over 4.5 million hours per year and complete nearly 500,000 missions – a true force multiplier for the Coast Guard! Membership in the Auxiliary is open to persons 17 years of age and older. We are organized into 16 districts nationwide, comprised of 171 divisions with approximately 980 flotillas. If you would like to learn more about our local Flotilla based out of USCG Station Golden Gate in Sausalito, CA, please contact Linda J. Pfeifer, staff officer for HR, at [email protected] members should plan on attending two monthly Flotilla meetings as a guest. Our meeting schedule can be found on the left menu bar of our website, at http://wow.uscgaux.info/content.php?unit=113-01-02. Contact Linda Pfeifer and she will arrange access for you to Station Golden Gate. Welcome aboard!