A Tall Ship Is in San Francisco This Week — and You Can Go Aboard for Free

If you were traveling over the Golden Gate Bridge on Wednesday morning, you’d have been treated to an unexpected sight through the fog: a 300-foot-long “tall ship” passing under the span, flying a giant Mexican flag from its stern.

The Mexican Navy’s tall ship Cuauhtémoc will now be berthed on the Embarcadero in San Francisco for the next four days as part of a goodwill visit — where you can go aboard this 120-foot-high ship for free.

The ship — full name ARM Cuauhtémoc BE-01 — isn’t the kind of historic tall ship you might be thinking of. Built in Spain in 1981, she functions as a training vessel for the Mexican Navy, where midshipmen learn seamanship.

The Cuauhtémoc is visiting San Francisco as part of its 2026 North Pacific Training Cruise: a 92-day trip during which the tall ship is stopping at ports in the United States, Mexico and Canada. 

And if the Cuauhtémoc’s name is familiar, it’s the same ship that collided with the Brooklyn Bridge in 2025, killing two people aboard and injuring multiple other service personnel.

The ship spent four months in a Staten Island shipyard following the crash, and is now fully repaired.

The Cuauhtémoc’s Wednesday morning voyage under the Golden Gate Bridge — which has a much higher clearance than the Brooklyn Bridge — passed without incident.

What to know about visiting the Cuauhtémoc this week:

The Cuauhtémoc will be berthed at Piers 15-17 on the Embarcadero in San Francisco (see the location on Google Maps).

For context, this is the same location as the Exploratorium, and it’s on Muni’s historic F streetcar line — just request the Embarcadero and Green Street stop on board.

According to Ocean Alliances, the nonprofit that’s hosting the tall ship’s visit to San Francisco, you’ll be able to step onboard and see the Cuauhtémoc’s decks, mast and rigging up-close — as well as meet its naval crew. 

Mireya Magaña Galvez, the Mexican Consulate’s deputy consul general, told KQED by email that public tours will go beyond the ship’s deck, but that exact details will likely depend on demand.

You can board the ship for free during the following times this week:

• 12 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

• 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
• 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

• 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

• 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Want to see this tall ship in motion instead? On Sunday, Sept. 27, there’ll be a “Farewell at the Dock” ceremony at 9:30 a.m. before the Cuauhtémoc departs San Francisco at 10 a.m.

And if you can’t make it to the ship in person, it should be visible from certain parts of the Bay Bridge.