Mariners Island Park

Location:Mariners Island Park is F3 on the parks map. It's nestled in the middle of a neighborhood that sits on the edge of one of San Mateo's many estuaries. There is a baseball field next door, and LOTS of trees, flowering bushes, and grassy areas.

Parking:
There is no lot, but the street ends in a round-a-bout right in front of the park. There are plenty of places to leave the car.

Surface:
The play area surface is wood chips. There is also a sand box and a long asphalt pathway near by.

Little Playground: The structure was created to look like a ship. There are two slides (both tunnels, which made E a little wary about going down them.)
There is a separate "bow" of the ship that is not attached to the structure but has fun things to climb on and little "port holes" to look out of.
There is one set of stairs into the main "ship" structure.

It leads to both of the tunnel slides on one end,
with a play wheel, and climbing bars on the other. This is definitely not a structure that I would let E play in alone. Because of the openings on either side for the climbing bars, there was too big of a risk of tumbling out. Luckily we had Daddy with us on this day so he stayed in the structure while I coaxed E down the "spooky" tunnel slides.
There are two toddler swings,
and sea horse and dolphin spring toys (did you know that small spring toys, like these, cost about $500!! WOW!).
In front of the swings, there is a sand box
complete with a digging toy. I used to LOVE these toys when I was little, strangely no one was really interested in this one. We tried to convince E to play on it, but he's still too little to work it properly.
There is also a mini playhouse.

Big Playground: I couldn't get all of this area into the picture, there is so much to do! Not only is there a climbing wall and a giant play structure, there are four swings. Daddy and I took turns climbing up and taking E down the twisty tube slide! He loved it!!

Coverage: The areas directly above the structures and swings were uncovered, however the entire park is surrounded by trees. The benches/picnic tables are fully shaded. I would still put E in a hat and sunblock, but if things got too hot, it's nice to have a bit of shade close by to retreat to.Bonus Feature: The waterway next to the park not only created a beautiful view,it also brought along all kinds of water fowl to listen to and look at. E spent most of his time staring at, talking to, running from, pointing at, and laughing about the ducks. They were by FAR his favorite part of this park (as a side note, the city discourages feeding the birds in order to keep the playgrounds clean. That being said, it's always difficult for E to NOT leave a trail of Cheerios everywhere he goes.)

Animals: There was a sign at the entrance requesting all dogs to be leashed. We only saw one dog, and he was playing catch with his owner in the baseball field. There was a flock of canadian geese grazing on the lawn near the sand box. When they saw the ducks snacking on E's Cheerios they did not aggressively come forward and ask for more.

Crowds: There were quite a few people at the park on this day, but not many cars. I think this is a favorite local park. E made friends with an older toddler who held his hand and helped him play in the little house by the sand box and I met two very friendly moms. This is the place to come when you're feeling the need to be social.

What we liked: The grounds are beautiful!! There is so much nature in this park! E loved the ducks and toddling up and down the asphalt pathways. I liked the many different things to do. E moved from the play structure, to the swings, to the sand, to birdwatching...he was so entertained he didn't want to leave. I also liked the small town feel of this park. Even though it's close to major roads and a business park, I didn't feel like we were "in the city".

What we didn't like: As creative as the "ship" play structure was E was put off by the tunnel slides, and I didn't feel like he could be in there alone. He is REALLY craving independence lately and my constant hovering around this area made him want to leave it ASAP.