Now's the best time of year for hanging out in the delta

The No. 1 boat name in the delta seems to be Serenity. It doesn't take much time out here in August, September or October to figure out why. This is the best time of year to find your rapture in the delta, whatever it might be: The best water-skiing, wakeboarding, bass fishing, houseboating - and with any of these, complete liberation from the Bay Area's congestion and stresses. From the air, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is a mosaic of rivers, islands and lakes, like a giant puzzle that fits perfectly. There are 55 islands and hundreds of miles of waterways. The levee system provides a network of roads that are connected by 70 bridges and even a few old-school ferries that run on cables.