Terms of Use

1. What this site is

SF Bay Notes is a personal editorial journal about visiting the piers, ferries, and islands of San Francisco Bay. The writing is the opinion of Tom W., based on visits made since 2021. It is offered for general information and reading, not as a booking service.

2. What this site is not

• It is not the official website of any tour operator or of the National Park Service.
• It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to any tour operator, ticket seller, or government agency.
• It does not sell tickets, take reservations, or process payments. There is no checkout on this site.
• It does not carry advertising, affiliate links, or sponsored articles.

If you need a ticket, a refund, a schedule, or an accessibility arrangement, contact the operator that actually runs the boats. We will not take your money and we cannot hold a space for you.

3. Editorial content

Descriptions of weather, crowds, paths, audio tours, and travel times are personal observations. Hours, paths, and rules change. A sentence that was true on a Tuesday in March may be stale in July. Confirm anything that matters — closures, boat times, access — with the people who run the place before you go.

Opinions (including the small gripes) are opinions. They are not a professional inspection and they are not a guarantee of your experience.

4. No commercial transactions

You cannot buy anything on this website. We never ask for a card number, a government ID, or a payment app. If a page or a pop-up ever asks you for payment details while you are reading this journal, treat it as a mistake or a third-party interference and do not enter the information. Write to us at [email protected].

5. Intellectual property

The text of this journal is © 2021–2026 Tom W. for SF Bay Notes. The site name and layout belong to the journal. You may link to any page. Please ask before copying more than a short excerpt.

Some photographs are used under Wikimedia Commons or similar licenses; credits sit under those images. Those photographs remain under their original licenses. Using them here is not a claim that we took every picture, and it is not an endorsement of any operator shown in a public landscape.

6. Acceptable use

You may not scrape the site to train a commercial product, overload the server, attempt to break in, or impersonate the journal. You may not use our contact form to send spam, threats, or unlawful content.

7. Disclaimer

The site is provided “as is.” We try to keep it available and accurate, and we do not promise either. We are not responsible for your travel plans, missed boats, weather, footwear, or anything that happens on a visit you make after reading these notes.

8. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent California law allows, SF Bay Notes and Tom W. are not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the site or reliance on its contents. If a court finds that we owe you anything, the amount will not exceed the amount you paid us to use the site — which is zero, because we do not charge.

9. Privacy

How we handle names, emails, logs, and cookies is described in the Privacy Policy and the Cookies Policy. Those pages are part of how this site works; please read them.

10. Changes

We may update these terms. The new text will appear on this page with a new “Last updated” date. Continued use of the site after a change means you accept the updated terms.

11. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute that cannot be resolved informally will be brought in the state or federal courts located in San Francisco County, California.

12. Contact

Questions about these terms: [email protected] or the contact page.