Bay Model Visitor Center
Museum · 2100 Bridgeway, Sausalito, CA 94965
Verified September 2026
Photo by Cary Bass-Deschenes, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Bay Model is a working hydraulic scale model of San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, built by the Army Corps of Engineers to study tides and currents across 1.5 acres of warehouse floor. It's free, it's indoors, and it's one of the few things in Sausalito a rainy day doesn't ruin.
What To Expect
You walk out onto a raised gangway above the model itself, which reproduces the entire Bay and Delta system at a scale where the tide actually cycles in about 15 minutes instead of 12 hours. Working pumps push real water through it to simulate currents, and there are static exhibits on the room's edges covering Sausalito's Marinship shipyard history and the model's own Cold War-era origins. Plan on 30 to 45 minutes unless you're the type who reads every placard.
Getting There
The Bay Model sits at the north end of Bridgeway, about a mile from downtown Sausalito, in the same building complex as the Sea Trek kayak dock. There's a free parking lot on site, which is more than you can say for most of downtown, and it's an easy stop to combine with a paddle or a walk along the waterfront path out front.
Good To Know
Open Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; closed Sunday, Monday, and federal holidays. Admission is free, donations welcome. Call ahead if you're coming specifically to see the model running water, since the Corps occasionally shuts it down for maintenance.
Our Take
Nobody comes to Sausalito planning to visit an Army Corps warehouse, and that's exactly why it's worth the detour — free, air-conditioned, genuinely strange, and a better rainy-day plan than anything else in town. Pair it with a Sea Trek kayak rental next door and you've got a full morning.