In the old days, we got stripers every day.” And, he remarks wistfully, “We used to have flounder out here…I think the commercial guys got them all.”Īnglers still go for salmon, striped bass, halibut, sturgeon, leopard shark, and surfperch at Point Pinole, says ranger Sushawn Robb, but “it’s not as good as it used to be. He’s reeled in striped bass that are more than 40 inches and sturgeon over seven feet, he says. But today, rather than finding my Vietnamese compatriots, I’ve found a man who really knows his fish. I emigrated from Vietnam to San Francisco when I was 12, and, like Reichert, I enjoy fishing. My aim is to learn about the Vietnamese fishing community that uses the East Bay parks, talk with a few anglers in our mother tongue, then chronicle their lives and their love of fishing. I strike up a conversation, telling him that I’m there on assignment for Bay Nature. While Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” spills out from his transistor radio, Reichert casts his lines into the Bay, hoping for striped bass. His one true love has always been fishing-an old man and the sea. I’ve been outside all of my life.” Reichert, now 70, grew up in nearby San Pablo, farmed a little bit, and worked construction too. “People say ‘I love to fish,’ but it’s just an excuse,” says Curtis Reichert. A faint aroma from the eucalyptus groves lingers in the air along the trails to the pier. Below, a few American coots loiter on the water. From the pier at Point Pinole Regional Shoreline, a dollop of parkland in Richmond on the eastern shore of San Pablo Bay, he can see Mount Tamalpais shimmering across the Bay. This afternoon, however, he has gone more than seven hours without taking a fish. My experience was ruined by an online review that threatened haunt-level, scream and run-type of horror experience and I was too scared to engage with the puzzles despite anything actually happening.The latter-day Ernest Hemingway-tall and rugged, long silver hair flowing from beneath an Oakland A’s cap, a beard, weathered skin-has been fishing in these waters since he was a boy in the 1950s. More of a nitpicky thing since I've done 10+ rooms before, still an enjoyable experience. Progress through the puzzles like any escape room, nothing will pop out or trigger a lighting/sound effect.ĭocking a star because I think the room was a bit too reliant on locks and more typical puzzles, and the difficulty more came from the sheer volume of locks than genuinely unique puzzle design. There's flickering lights and some obviously fake blood which creates a spooky ambiance but it is definitely not "scary" per se. Something like "oh haha there's a plastic finger here! OooOoH" (Not quite but close). Not to spoil much but the only "spooks" involve small plastic props that you could get at the dollar store, more for fun than for actual fear. There are NO sudden loud sounds or scary apparitions. In terms of fear, I'd say it's around a 2 out of 5 - think Disneyland Haunted Mansion. Lots of online reviews talked about it being extremely scary and having controversial theming, but the room has been changed! As someone who is too scared to look through the window of Spirit Halloween, take my word, you will be ok!! I would definitely come back and try some of the other episodes.įeeling the need to set the record straight on this one. ![]() Overall we had a good time but if we were trying for the best time or super into it, we might have been bothered by some of the smaller issues. ![]() That being said, we still finished with a good amount of time left. The room was also very dark which added to the ambiance, but some of the colors (like on the fairies) were faded or difficult to discern in the dark which led to lots of guessing and more time wasting. I think it is possible that this is something the staff watching you on video has to manually do, but we probably lost 10 minutes total thinking it was the wrong thing and trying to move on to other stuff. Most notable for us was that we completed the maze on the barrel in the final section at least three times and the key that was supposed to come out never did we wasted a lot of time on that and then tried other things but when I started audibly saying it should work, suddenly the key popped out. ![]() Staff was really upbeat and friendly in person and after we watched the little into video we were ready to go. It felt magical and we knew it would be an easy one so we could just relax and enjoy. ![]() I liked the look of the rooms online and it did not disappoint. I have done escape rooms before and specifically came here for the "Once Upon A Time" episode.
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