Fisherman's Wharf: the working harbour and the curve of Aquatic Park
The sea lions at Pier 39, Ghirardelli Square, the historic ships at Hyde Street Pier, and the swimmers' cove. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Pier 39 — the sea lion docks
Start at the west marina, where the sea lions hauled out in 1989 and never left. They bark, shove, and pile onto the floating docks in the hundreds, fewest in summer when many head out to feed. Lean on the rail and watch; it's free and it's the real reason to come.

2. Fish Alley
Cut inland off the main drag to the working part of the wharf, where a handful of crab boats still tie up and the morning catch gets cleaned. Earlier is better; this is the quarter doing the job it was named for, behind the souvenir frontage.

3. Hyde Street Pier — the historic ships
The San Francisco Maritime park's pier of old vessels: the square-rigger Balclutha, the ferryboat Eureka, a steam schooner. You can board them on a ticket, or read the whole fleet from the free pier and the beach beside it.

4. Ghirardelli Square
The red-brick chocolate factory turned plaza, the rooftop sign lit at night. The chocolate's a tourist stop now, but the courtyard and the fountain are pleasant and the view down to the cove from the upper terraces is the thing.

5. Aquatic Park cove
The curved sandy cove and its long municipal pier, where year-round swimmers in the Dolphin Club still cross the cold water. Walk out on the curving pier for the view back at the whole waterfront. You don't have to swim; nobody expects you to.

6. Maritime Museum (Bathhouse Building)
The streamline-moderne building above the beach, shaped like a ship, with WPA murals of an undersea world inside. Free, usually empty, and the upstairs balconies give you the cove one more time before the cable car back.

Fisherman's Wharf: the working harbour and the curve of Aquatic Park