From K-QED.

Living in the Bay Area, we are surrounded by water.

The San Francisco Bay, after all, defines the region.

It's literally in our name, Bay Area.

But it's pretty easy to live here and not know much about what actually happens on that big body of water.

I live in Petrero Hill and I can look out and see ships

anchored in the middle of the bay. This is Sam Lord. He's got some questions about

the boats he sees from his house. And I just wondered what they're doing there, what they're waiting for,

and how long they're there.

And there's also those barges on his commute.

I used to work in Berkeley and I'd commute over the bridge,

and I'd see these barges just anchored. The ones just north of the Bay Bridge

that seem like they're always there. Turns out a lot of you have questions about these barges

and some of the container ships parked nearby. Today on Bay Curious, we take to the water for some answers.

I'm Olivia Allen Price. Support for Bay Curious is brought to you by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, still family owned, operated, and argued over.

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Okay, so we've got some curious vessels in the water doing all sorts of mysterious things.

To get the what's what, we hooked Sam up with reporter Kelly O'Mara and sent them out on a boat

with the Coast Guard.

So we will not be going very fast on this trip. We set out from Treasure Island.

That's where the Coast Guard has their vessel traffic services,

...