On the waterfront, ice cream is available at the California Wine Ship office near the ferry terminal. The California Wine Ship also acts as the Riverboat Steakhouse when not on a cruise. If you brought a bike, you could venture from downtown for goodies like those at Liled’s Ice Cream and Candy Kitchen at 1318 Tennessee Street, where chocolate and ice cream are made on the premises, or Georgina’s Coffee House at 1505 Tennessee Street, with house baked pastries and gourmet sandwiches. Heading northwest from the ferry terminal, there’s lots of room to bike along Vallejo Waterfront Park. En route you pass the Vallejo Yacht Club, with waterfront views to Mare Island and the Strait. The Sardine Can at the municipal harbor offers casual waterfront dining. Further on, the Waterbarge Tavern is more elegant. Next, you pass under the Mare Island causeway to your destination-River Park. A paved trail passes along the Strait here, and there is a nice marsh. When the route ends, you can simply return the way you came.

2. With advance reservations on one of Mare Island Historic Park Foundation’s tours, you can visit Mare Island. (For now, you cannot visit the island without a guide. Tour guides will pick you up at and return you to the ferry terminal.) The 3-mile long island is a National and State Historic Landmark. You can view St. Peter’s Chapel, the oldest Naval Chapel in the Pacific, with 29 beautiful stained glass windows designed at Tiffany Studios, 16 of which were produced and signed by the studio-a priceless collection of stained glass is one of the finest anywhere. The officer’s row mansions with their beautiful gardens, are a feast for the eyes, and you can tour the interior of the Admiral’s Mansion with special arrangements. Mare Island Historic Park Foundation tours also visit the cemetery and Alden Park, with its Polaris missile and a German W.W.I suicide submarine, and trees from around the globe. Especially impressive is the shipyard, where 513 ships were built over the Island’s years of service, and Dry Dock #1, built over a period of 17 years with stones hand cut and brought from the Sierras.

There are many versions of the story of how Mare Island got its name. Ken Zadwick, founder of the Mare Island Historic Park Foundation, and tour guide, tells the same version that General Vallejo’s son Platon Vallejo relays in "Memoirs of the Vallejos". In the old days, they used to swim the horses across river. One late afternoon while they were doing so, treacherous currents took the horses out into bay. It got dark, and there wasn’t time to go after the horses. They were presumed lost, but 3 days later, General Vallejo saw his old mare running around on the island. When he went to Monterey to report to the commanding officer, he told him this story. The commanding officer, who was responsible for naming all of the areas described in the mapping expedition of General Vallejo, determined that the island would be called "Isla de la Yegua," or Mare Island.

Mare Island Naval Shipyard took shape under Commander David Glasgow Farragut, who later became the nation’s first Admiral for his victories in capturing New Orleans, Vicksburg, and Mobile Bay during the Civil War. During World War II, the island employed over 46,000 people, and was one of the most important ship repair facilities for the Pacific Fleet. World War II and Mare Island dramatically changed Vallejo, almost quadrupling its population and employing most of it. Mare Island Naval Shipyard built the first nuclear submarine on the west coast in 1954. Many more were built here, ending with the USS Drum in 1970. Repair of nuclear submarines continued into the 1990s. The Mare Island Historic Park Foundation will open the USS Drum for public tours in Dry Dock #1 as soon as it is retrofitted for public use. The most recent project of the foundation is the reprint of Lieutenant Commander Lott’s "A Long Line of Ships," describing the first 100 years of Mare Island history. Out of print for 25 years, the historic book was written in 1954 as part of the 100 year anniversary celebration.

Change will be coming soon to Mare Island. The Navy left Mare Island in 1996, and contractors are doing the required environmental clean up. When that is complete, Mare Island will be turned over to the City, and open the public. There are currently 65 civilian tenants here, including XKT Corporation, who utilizes the machinery left over from the submarine manufacture process to make towers for San Francisco International Airport and sections for the new bridges in Bay Area. In addition to the industrial, educational, recreational, residential, and historical areas planned for Mare Island, the foundation will open a 50,000 square-foot Mare Island Historic Park Foundation Museum in 2002, housed in the blacksmith shop behind Dry Dock 1, appropriately, the oldest building on the island.

3. Back near the ferry terminal, the California Wine Ship provides your ride to Napa. The outfit offers brunch with wine country tours and tastings every Sunday. You begin with a 2-hour cruise and buffet of champagne and Belgian waffles while the boat cruises the waters of the Napa Wildlife Refuge. Afterwards, you board a bus and head to Napa to tour the wineries: Viansa; RMS Distillery (who makes a California alambic brandy that, because of the high alcohol content is prohibited from tastings, but you are encouraged, even instructed in how to sniff); and Domaine Carneros, who produces sparkling wines in a chateau-like setting. If you are part of one of the Wine Ship’s smaller parties, you get to vote on where to go after that-perhaps to the Sonoma Cheese Factory. The California Wine Ship was built from scratch in Fort Bragg in 1992 by Bill Barker. Formerly the Petaluma Queen, she ran as a restaurant on the Petaluma River for seven years before coming to Vallejo. The Barker family still runs the outfit. Bill is the owner and captain and his daughter Sharana, will be your head waitress.