Alcatraz - Visiting The Rock in San Francisco
By traveltripz on Mar 14, 2008 in San Francisco, USA
A visit to San Francisco isn’t complete without a visit to Alcatraz so we did the right thing and bought two tickets for the ferry trip across to the island.
Booking for Alcatraz must be done in advance as it is a popular tour so we booked 2 days ahead. If you are coming during a busy time of the year make it a point of buying your tickets on the day you arrive so you don’t miss out.
We purchased our tickets at Pier 33 at Fishermans Wharf which is where the ferry leaves from and they cost $24.50 each. We booked it for 10.30am on the Friday. The ferries leave every 30 minutes but you have to book for a specific time. Coming back doesn’t need to be booked so you just hop on any ferry to return. This allows you to spend as much time as you like on the island as long as you are on the last ferry which leaves at 4.30pm.
So today we walk from our Holiday Inn Hotel up to Pier 33. Our hotel is in a great location and close to everything so it only takes about 15 or so minutes to get there.
We wait in a queue to get onto the ferry. Halfway into the queue our photo is taken in front of a backdrop of Alcatraz.
Once onto the ferry we make our way to the upper deck which is open and exposed to all the elements. Luckily we had a beautiful day so although the weather was cold it was tolerable. If you want the open deck then make sure that you arrive a little earlier so you are near the front of the queue as it seemed like everyone was heading for the top.
The ferry left on schedule and only 10 minutes later we were at Alcatraz. The crossing was smooth considering how strongly the wind was blowing. Wanda was a bit apprehensive as she is prone to getting seasick, but she was so occupied with taking photos that she didn’t have time to think about it and the time passed really quickly.
Since we were on the top deck we were one of the last to hop off. Before we were able to head up the winding climb to the prison it was a requirement that we listen to the orientation talk but by the time we got off the boat it was already half way through so we didn’t get to hear too much.
So it was off to walk the hill towards the prison passing by the officers residences as we went. The island has a shuttle for people who are unable to make the walk on their own. As the climb is the equivalent of a thirteen story building.
Once in the prison we were directed through the cellhouse towards the area where the audio tour started. We had no idea whether this was an extra cost or not as there were no signs anywhere and eventually we realised that the tour is included in our ticket cost so we took the headphones and player and headed off on the tour.
The audio directs you through the prison providing lots of info and interesting facts and takes about 40 minutes.
We saw lots of prison cells which are about the size of a small bathroom. Each contains a bed, wash basin, toilet and some shelving. The cells were a lot smaller than I was expecting them to be.
We also got to see the recreation yard and the dining room and kitchen. Every so often the audio requests you to stop in front of photos of prisoners and prison officers and gives you an insight into prison life and also the famous prisoners such as Machine Gun Kelly and Al Capone.
After we had seen enough we headed back down the hill to the ferry. We didn’t realise that there was a queueing area to get back onto the ferry as we had been sitting on a bench further up the pier waiting for the next one to arrive. Fortunately there was still plenty of room on the ferry so we didn’t have to wait for the next one.
In the kitchen, the outline of the knives were drawn on the wall so that the guards could see at a glance if a knife was missing. Even so this didn’t stop knives from disappearing.
The guards tower was manned 24 hours a day.
These are some of Alcatraz’s famous inmates : AZ 85 Al “Scarface” Capone - Income Tax Evasion, AZ 117 George “Machine Gun”Kelly - Kidnapping, AZ268 Arthur “Doc” Barker - Conspiracy to kidnap, AZ 325 Alvin “Creepy Karpis” Karpavicz - Conspiracy to kidnap, AZ594 Robert “The Birdman” Stroud - Murder, AZ1117 Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson - Narcotics, AZ 1518 Meyer “Mickey ” Cohen - Income Tax Evasion.
