SF Bay Notes is an independent visitor journal. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to any tour operator or the National Park Service. We do not sell tickets and never process payments.

SF Bay Notes An independent journal from the piers, ferries and islands of San Francisco Bay

Legal

Cookies Policy

Last updated 26 September 2026. This page explains what cookies SF Bay Notes uses on sf-bay-cruises.com and why.

A cookie is a small text file that a website can store on your device. Some cookies are essential for a page to work. Others are used to remember preferences or to advertise. This journal does not advertise and does not run a shop, so the cookie list is short.

Cookies we use

NameTypeHow longWhy
PHP session cookie (typically PHPSESSID) Strictly necessary Until you close the browser, or a few hours at most Lets the contact form keep its state if you submit it, and lets the server recognize one request as part of the same short visit. It does not identify you by name.

That is the only first-party cookie we set on purpose. We do not set a separate advertising identifier. We do not drop a cookie to remember a marketing campaign.

Cookies we do not use

  • No Google Ads / Floodlight / remarketing cookies
  • No Google Analytics (_ga, _gid) cookies
  • No Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, or other advertising pixels
  • No social-share buttons that phone home when the page loads
  • No “remember this visitor for 13 months” tracking cookies

Third parties

If you reach this site through a public network or a content-delivery network, that network may set a strictly technical cookie or log your request in order to deliver the page and absorb traffic spikes. Those cookies, if any, are not used by SF Bay Notes to advertise. We do not embed YouTube, maps, or payment widgets on these pages.

Consent

Because the only cookie we set is strictly necessary for the site and the contact form to function, we do not show a marketing-consent banner. That is consistent with the “strictly necessary” exception under the EU ePrivacy rules and with California law, which does not treat a necessary session cookie as a sale of personal information.

You can still block all cookies in your browser. The journal pages will still read. The contact form may forget that you already sent a message if you block the session cookie.

How to control cookies

Every major browser lets you delete cookies, block third-party cookies, or block all cookies:

  • Chrome: Settings → Privacy and security → Cookies and other site data
  • Safari: Settings → Safari → Advanced → Block all cookies
  • Firefox: Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data
  • Edge: Settings → Cookies and site permissions

Do-Not-Track and Global Privacy Control signals: this site has no advertising tools to honor. There is nothing extra to turn off.

More detail

How we handle names, emails, and logs is described in the Privacy Policy. Questions: [email protected].