Alcatraz Island

The visit was perfect the audiotour was awesome and even scary sometimes, the voices are supposed to be from the real prisioners that were there.
I simply love it!

Pretty cool place.
Its definitely a must do while in San Francisco.
Lovely boat ride there and back plus once you get done with your audio tour you can just hang out around the prison and explore. Plus you can get some great pictures from the island.

No way out!

A prison in the middle of the ocean. What a clever idea! Or so i thought.

Alcatraz Island, sometimes referred to as simply Alcatraz or locally as The Rock, is a small island located in the middle of San Francisco Bay in California. In the past it has served as a lighthouse,a military fortification, then a military prison followed by a federal prison until 1963. The US then turned "The Rock" into a national recreation area in 1972 and it received its landmarking designations in 1976 and 1986. It is now a MUST DO if you take a trip to San Fran.

Having very little knowledge of Alcatraz or "The Rock" as its known, the trip to the island and the audio tour (thats free!) around was simply the best tour of a "museum" as such I have ever had in all my life. It is a detailed tour around the complete facility that takes you through each section stated above, telling you stories of not only inmates (like Al' Capone & The Bird Man) but also the work force situated on The Rock and once they had departed, the stories move on the The Rock being taken over by the Indians.

From the island, there are views of San Fran all around that can be seen, including the Golden Gate bridge, this was a sight to see, however it must have made life hell for the inmates knowing that their home(s) where only 1.2miles away. Thus they did have the occasional break out, that more often than not never worked due to the currents of the sea & the weather conditions. However, 3 men managed to escape, where they are? No one knows. But I would sure love to!

For those who enjoy wildlife like myself, Alcatraz, originally called ALCATRACES, was named after the Brown Pelican seen in the area by Spanish explorers.Today the Western Gull and the Brandt's Cormorant are the most common wildlife found on Alcatraz Island. Nesting all year round, they provide a vocal note, to let visitors know that this is now their home.

** A little note that just made my day when I went to Alcatraza. In front of the Main Entrance to the "Wardens office" on the grass frontage, you will see on the bottom of the left hand side, a concreate square, that was a time capsual inside placed there by an inmate or Indian (no one knows?). On the concreate the inmate/Indian, engraved his name, the date he placed the capsual there & the date he wants it to be opened. When I spoke to a park ranger, (lovely man) stated they would open the capsual the day & year the inmate requested :) I just thought that it was amazing!.

They do tours to Alcatraz all year around, throughout they day & also in the evenings. In the night tours the charge is higher, however it still only amounts to $30-$40. A normal day trip, is $25, this includes your ferry fee and the entrance fee to Alcatraz. They do OAP prices, Child fees & family fees. Sadley no student fees.

Alcatraz was built in 1853 as a military fort to protect San Francisco during the gold rush, was used as the most uselessly placed fort during the Civil War, and then the military prison was converted to a civilian prison in 1934. Only 1545 prisoners ever served time on Alcatraz, there were 14 escape attempts (one possibly successful), five suicides and eight murders before it was closed in 1963. It cost more than three times the amount to run per prisoner per day than other maximum security Federal prisons, and was never filled to capacity.

Alcatraz is an interesting half-day trip from San Francisco. The National Parks service run multiple tours out from Fisherman's Wharf every day, including evening tours. The evening tour involves the twenty minute ferry trip to the island, a beautiful trip across San Francisco Bay followed overhead by gull, and a tour of the island. Most of the tour is self-guided with an audio guide, but the audio guide is actually quite good, and includes recordings of ex-inmates and ex-guards talking about their experience on the island. Short talks are also given on escape attempts and famous prisoners, a film is shown in the theatre, and demonstrations are made of the door locking mechanism giving the infamous clanging shut of prison doors.

The island also has deer mice and one of the largest colonies of western gulls in northern California.

Boycotts have been called against Hornblower, the company with an exclusive contract to run the ferry service to the islands, for their anti-Union crusading.

Tickets are around $20 and can be bought online.

San Francisco is een leuke gezellige stad. Wij verbleven in Saulsolito een klein plaatsje aan de andere kant van de Golden gate brug.

On Friday we took the ferry out to Alcatraz Island, the famed federal penitentiary. We wandered around the island and went up to the prison at the top to take the tour. The audio tour was well worth getting. The tour explained the cell blocks, the isolation rooms, the mess hall and described several escape attempts and riots. We got to go into one of the isolation cells and had the door shut behind us. We were in utter darkness - you couldn't see people one foot in front of you. On our way back the ferry offered a nice view of the bay and of the Golden Gate bridge.

Alcatraz was a unique experiance. We learned a lot about the prison and how the convicts were treated. We took the audio tour and found it very educational. I would recomend the experiance to everyone, a do not miss.