Mission Bay, San Francisco
Mission Creek Boathouse
Flat, sheltered creek water and a dock you step off, in the middle of Mission Bay. Every Giants game day paddle starts here.
Where401 Berry St
OpenGame days, and by appointment
WaterFlat and protected
To McCovey CoveHalf a mile
Three things worth knowing before you set off
- Crane Cove is our home base. The beach, the shop, the market, the sauna and the daily rentals are all there, a mile south of here. The boathouse is the dock: game days, private groups and the storage racks. Check which one your booking says.
- Book before you come down. The boathouse opens for every Giants home game, and for private events by appointment. Everything that happens here runs on a reservation.
- Come by transit if you can. Muni, Caltrain and six paid garages are all within a short walk. Street spaces around the park go early on a game day.
What the boathouse is
A curved blue vault on timber ribs, tucked under the I-280 viaduct on the Berry Street side of Mission Creek Park. Behind the mesh gate are the kayaks and boards, the storage racks, and a ramp down to a floating dock. You get on the water without carrying a boat across sand.
Look for the blue roof and the orange banner. The building sits back off Berry Street facing the park path, with the I-280 viaduct running over the top of it.
The boathouse belongs to the City. UCSF ran it until the site came into the San Francisco park system in July 2023, and it then sat shut for eight months. We reopened it in August 2025 in partnership with San Francisco Recreation and Parks, and we have been running kayaks, boards and groups out of it since.
The two sites are different water on purpose. Crane Cove is a beach on the open Bay, which is where you go for the Bay itself: swell, wind, seals, the whole city on the skyline and open water in front of you. This is a channel. No swell, almost no current, and a shoreline within reach the whole way. The dock does the rest, because a group gets afloat in one go.
It is the closer of the two to downtown, which is why a lot of the private groups end up here, and why the Giants game day boats launch from this dock.
The creek you are paddling
Mission Creek is what is left of Mission Bay. The Spanish called it Arroyo de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, and it drained a tidal marsh that once reached inland to Mission Dolores. The marsh was filled, most of the creek was culverted, and rubble from the 1906 earthquake finished the job. This channel is the only part still above ground.
The houseboats along the south bank have been there since 1960, when the state moved the community over from Islais Creek. You paddle past their front doors, which is the sort of thing that only happens from the water.
Two drawbridges cross the channel between the boathouse and the ballpark: the Peter R. Maloney bridge at 4th Street, opened in 1917, and the Lefty O’Doul bridge at 3rd Street, opened in 1933. Both came from Joseph Strauss, the engineer behind the Golden Gate Bridge. Past the second one the creek becomes McCovey Cove.
The run from the boathouse to McCovey Cove is graded beginner on our route map, which is the map’s way of saying a first timer can paddle it.
Game day at the boathouse
Every Giants home game, the boathouse opens and the boats come out. You watch the game from the water in McCovey Cove, where a home run over the right field wall lands, and where there is a screen, a crowd and a small navy of kayaks, paddle boards and dogs in life vests.
Book a launch time
Slots run from thirty minutes before first pitch to thirty minutes after, in fifteen-minute steps. Single or tandem. Popular games sell out, so pick your date early.
2 hourson the water, boat included
Check in at 401 Berry
Arrive fifteen minutes early. Life vest, paddle, dry bag and the route briefing all happen on the dock before you get in.
15 minutes earlygear and briefing
Paddle out to the cove
Down the creek, under the 4th Street bridge and then the 3rd Street bridge, and you are in it. You paddle out on your own, at your own pace.
Half a mileflat and sheltered
Prices, the two boat options and every home game left this season are on the Giants game days page.
The rest of the year
We are still expanding what runs from here, and we welcome inquiries and feedback on how best to use the Mission Creek Boathouse. Tell us what you would want.
Getting here
Mission Creek Boathouse, 401 Berry Street. On the Berry Street side of Mission Creek Park, between 4th and 5th, under the I-280 viaduct. Look for the blue curved roof and the orange banner on the gate. Crane Cove Park, our home base, is a mile south, so check which one your booking says.
Transit, bike and foot
If you drive
Six paid garages within a short walk
- China Basin185 Berry St, entrance off 3rd
- Luma Hotel, valet100 Channel St
- UCSF 3rd Street1650 3rd St
- UCSF Community Center1625 Owens St
- UCSF Owens Street1835 Owens St
- UCSF Illinois Street590 Illinois St
Good to know
Before you go
The creek and the cove
The run from this dock out to McCovey Cove is graded beginner the whole way, past the houseboats and under the bridges. It is on the map with everything else.
Before you launch
Plan your paddle around the current
Tell it when you want to get on the water and when you want to be back. It reads the Potrero Point predictions and tells you which way to head first.
Food and drink nearby
A game day leaves an hour either side of it to fill. Everything below is within a walk, grouped by the direction you would set off in.
Berry Street and Mission Bay
Over the bridges, toward the ballpark
Mission Rock and the waterfront
Thrive City
Nothing here is ours and nothing here is paid for. It is the list we give people who ask on the dock.