1. Bodega Bay Lodge & Spa
City: Bodega Bay, CA
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (707) 875-3525, (800) 368-2468
Address: 103 Coast Highway 1
Description: Luxurious and intimate on eight landscaped acres, the lodge overlooks wildflower-covered dunes, protected marshlands, the Pacific Ocean, and the gentle surf of Doran Beach. Though it’s close enough to enjoy the sound of the surf, the wood-shingled lodge is sheltered from coastal winds. All 84 spacious guest rooms have fireplaces, private balconies, and original artwork. Many feature vaulted ceilings, spa baths, refrigerators, wet bars, and coffeemakers. The 5,000-square-foot conference center is impressive, with high, arched ceilings supported by thick beams of polished oak. The Duck Club Restaurant can be counted on for imaginative cuisine. Complimentary wine is served in the late afternoon. An assortment of massages, body treatments, and facials are available in the on-site spa. The 18-hole Robert Trent Jones Jr.–designed Links at Bodega Harbour is next door (see the Parks and Recreation chapter).
2. Inn At The Tides
City: Bodega Bay, CA
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (707) 875-2751, (800) 541-7788
Address: 800 Coast Highway 1
Description: Six coastal acres with natural landscaping surround this inn, which is actually an enclave of 12 separate lodges that appear to be part of the rumpled hills and tawny headlands. Each of the 86 guest quarters overlooks Bodega Bay. Most rooms have king beds and wood-burning fireplaces. Amenities include a heated indoor-outdoor pool, spacious spa, soothing sauna, and luxurious logo bathrobes. (One night under a starry sky I had the pool all to myself.) In-room massage can be arranged, too. A continental breakfast is served, and gourmet cuisine is featured in the Bay View Restaurant (see the Restaurants chapter).
3. Bodega Bay Rv Park
City: Bodega Bay, CA
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (707) 875-3701
Address: 2001 Highway 1
Description: Accommodations include 72 RV sites, most with full hookups and complimentary cable TV and wireless Internet too. The maximum RV length in this park is 55 feet. There’s a laundry on-site, and fishing and golf are close by.
4. Bodega Bay Surf Shack
City: Bodega Bay, CA
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (707) 875-3944
Address: 1400 Highway 1
5. Bodega Bay Kayak
City: Bodega Bay, CA
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (707) 875-8899
Address: 1580 East Shore Drive, Blue Whale Shoppi
Description: These two shops are a must-stop for any visitor eager to glean the optimum amount of local surfing or kayaking knowledge. Bob Miller, the Surf Shack’s friendly and welcoming owner, has been surfing nearby Salmon Creek Beach and other primo wave spots since 1984. His shop offers surfboards, wetsuit rentals, and surfing lessons. Bike rentals also are available, along with a great selection of men’s and women’s beachwear and casual clothing. The nearby kayak shop offers single and tandem kayaks for half-day and all-day rental on sheltered Bodega Bay. More adventurous paddlers may want to consider signing up for the shop’s guided tour of the coast.
6. The Links At Bodega Harbour
City: Bodega Bay, CA
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (707) 875-3538, (800) 503-8158
Address: 21301 Heron Drive
Description: This seaside course offers wonderful salty breezes and ocean sparkle. Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., Bodega Harbour has rolling fairways, cavernous pot bunkers, native coastal rough, and marshlands. (Players are prohibited from entering the marsh on holes 16, 17, and 18.) The 18th has been voted the best finishing hole in Northern California. The par is 70, and the yardage measures 6275 from the black tees. Green fees are $60 Monday through Thursday, $70 on Friday, and $90 on Saturday and Sunday (all rates include cart rental). The clubhouse restaurant, Bluewater Bistro, serves lunch daily, dinner on Friday and Saturday nights, and breakfast on weekend mornings. Bodega Harbour has golf-and-lodging packages in conjunction with several hotels in Bodega Bay and with vacation rental agencies that offer private homes bordering the course.
7. Chanslor Guest Ranch And Stables
City: Bodega Bay, CA
Category: Parks & Recreation
Telephone: (707) 875-2721, (707) 875-3333
Address: 2660 Highway 1
Description: You can lead a horse to the water, but you can’t make him surf. Chanslor offers four daily beach rides from its inland property—over the dunes to Bodega Bay and back. There are other options too: the one-and-a-half-hour Salmon Creek Trail, which winds into a canyon and around much of the company’s 378 acres; the one-hour Eagle View ride, where you are likely to spot a couple of resident bald eagles; and a half-hour trek through the Wetlands Preservation Habitat. Prices are about $60, $60, and $40, respectively. Private rides are more expensive than rides in groups of six. Chanslor also rents vacation homes on the ranch, ranging from $150 to $900 per night.
8. Bay View Restaurant
City: Bodega Bay, CA
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (707) 875-2751, (800) 541-7788
Address: 800 Coast Highway 1
Description: Bay View is part of Inn at the Tides, one of the most relaxing hostelries at Bodega Bay (see the Hotels, Motels, and Inns chapter). The restaurant features a menu that changes weekly and goes well beyond the local catch. Look for grilled ahi tuna on the menu, bouillabaisse, grilled wild king salmon, and rack of lamb. Cocktails are served in the lounge, a romantic setting as the sun goes down over the Pacific. The restaurant is open for dinner Wednesday through Sunday.
9. Lucas Wharf Restaurant & Bar
City: Bodega Bay, CA
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (707) 875-3522
Address: 595 Highway 1
Description: This is a cozy, romantic place, with a vaulted ceiling and a fireplace to warm you when the weather cools (as it often does on this coast). Seafood will never be fresher than it is here, for this is a commercial fishery that supplies grocers and the public with fresh Pacific catch. The chef’s special of the day is based on the best of the day’s catch—salmon, halibut, crab, calamari, and oysters. Bask in the glow of the setting sun while you enjoy your meal or watch sea birds cavort as fishermen deliver their bounty at the pier (ask for a window table). Lucas Wharf is a great place to pick up fresh cracked crab or custom-smoked fish. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week. Fresh crab season is mid-November through June, and fresh salmon season is mid-May through September.
10. Sandpiper
City: Bodega Bay, CA
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (707) 875-2278
Address: 1410 Bay Flat Road
Description: Did you ever know a good seafood restaurant that didn’t claim its clam chowder to be the best you’ve ever tasted? The Sandpiper will even sell you merchandise proclaiming its chowder is the best. The restaurant is off the main drag through Bodega Bay; you must turn at the sign for Bodega Head to reach Bay Flat Road. The vehicle parked next to yours might be a fisherman’s; it’s a casual place that’s more comfortable for the locals than the other restaurants in town. Sandpiper serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and the menus for each are the traditional fare. In addition to prawns, snapper, calamari, and the like, burgers, steaks, and chicken dishes are also available.
11. The Tides Wharf & Restaurant
City: Bodega Bay, CA
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (707) 875-3652
Address: 835 Highway 1
Description: If the setting looks familiar, it’s because you saw it in Alfred Hitchcock’s film The Birds. If you didn’t see the movie, you can get a taste of the action through a poster on the wall. Aside from the renown that has come from Tippi Hedren fending off birds, the restaurant has earned its own fame as the long-standing favorite of regulars who have been popping in since the place was small. There’s both a snack bar and a full-service sit-down restaurant, as well as a fish market. Pick up some fresh Dungeness crab at the market when it’s in season (see the close-up in this chapter), along with wine, bread, cheese, and many other deli items. The restaurant is open every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and it offers full bar service.
12. Children’S Bell Tower
City: Bodega Bay, CA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (707) 875-3866
Address: 2255 Highway 1
Description: In 1994 Nicholas Green, a seven-year-old boy from Bodega Bay, was tragically shot and killed by robbers during a vacation with his family in Italy. Nicholas’s parents bravely chose to donate his organs to seven sick Italians, who were given a new chance to live a full life. The heartbreaking yet life-affirming tale received worldwide media attention and was turned into a movie. It also gave birth to this moving monument dedicated to the memory of Nicholas and the positive aftermath of his death. Families, schools, and churches around Italy donated all of the 140 bells that ring the 18-foot-high tower. The large bell in the center, blessed by Pope John Paul II, is inscribed with the names of the seven recipients of Nicholas’s organs. The memorial is behind the Bodega Bay Community Center, at the north edge of town on the ocean side of the highway. Park in the small lot behind the center and stroll down to the tower. (Nicholas is buried in Bodega, a short distance inland. His grave is also an inspirational sight.)
13. The Ren Brown Collection
City: Bodega Bay, CA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (707) 875-2922, (800) 585-2921
Address: 1781 Highway 1
Description: Housed in a building with shoji screens and a small Japanese garden, this gallery is dedicated to showing contemporary art from both sides of the Pacific. The major focus is on modern Japanese prints by artists such as Shigeki Kuroda, Toko Shinoda, and Ryohei Tanaka, whose works often appear in prominent museums. The items shown at Ren Brown represent the largest selections of contemporary Japanese prints in California. Also featured are the works of several regional California artists. You’ll see watercolor; sculpture in stone and bronze; acrylic paintings; as well as woodcut, silk screen, mezzotint, and lithograph art. All in all, some 75 artists are represented on two floors of the gallery, which is open 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.