First and foremost, if you want to visit Alcatraz while you are in San Francisco, you must book ahead of time. MUST. The chances of you getting a ticket the day of or even within the week are not high. As I was standing in line with my ticket to board the boat, they were selling the next available tickets 11 days from this day. Book Early!

I decided to take the tour early because I was planning to drive back to Monterey and then get right on the road for Yosemite with friends. This was the 10:00 boat to the island.

Headed to Alcatraz with a flock of geese flying above.

Excited to get a few of these shots!

San Francisco Bay bridge as part of the landscape.

San Fran cityscape as we are headed to the island in the middle of the bay.

Alcatraz up close and personal. There were 336 cells between B & C blocks and each cell was 5 feet by 9 feet, had cold running water, a bed, and a toliet. In addition there were 36 segregation cells and 6 isolation cells in D block. These cells were larger but less popular because you were only allowed to leave your cell once a week and even that was done in complete isolation.

Just a nice little warning in case you thought it was a good idea to help prisoner’s escape the island.

Just around the bend where we were about to dock to walk up the hill to the detainee area.

As you climb up to the prisoner area on Alcatraz. Once you go inside, you pick up a headset in your language and begin the tour. It’s really nice because you don’t have to walk around with a group, you can go at your own pace and walk wherever you want while you listen to the headset tell you about Alcatraz and the prisoner’s there.

Walking between blocks inside the prison area. There are many facts during the tour about these areas.

That’s all the natural light you had entering the prison area, makes you want to get a little stir crazy.

The Times Square clock led right into the dining hall.

Typical cell in B or C block.

At the end of a row of cells was a bit of an open area where the guards could monitor things from.

On one of the walls there was a tiny window dirty and hard to see from. One of the few windows that showed views of San Francisco Bay. So you could know what you were missing out on. Civilization. Life.

Some of the guards offices and where the wardon walked through when he was coming from his house to the prison.

Outside is a large monument with very beautiful views of San Francisco Bay.

The prisoners never really got this view. When they were allowed outside, lower down where they did not have very good views of the area.

This used to be the Warden’s house but was burned down in a fire years ago.

The bay doesn’t seem that far away, however, a strong current, the possibility of sharks, and unpredictible weather, make an escape attempt from Alcatraz very hard to do.

Beautiful San Francisco. You can see how steep the streets become in this photo.

The entryway to the Administration part of the building where the cells are on Alcatraz. Also where the procedures were contained in a safe in the event that the prisoners tried to take over.

At the bottom of this cliff face down beneath the cell blocks is where the prisoners on C & B black were allowed out into the courtyard a couple of times a week. Imagine being trapped on this island close enough to civilization that you could hear people living, yet still be so far away.. An interesting dilema.

Just in case you didn’t know what the island was and needed to jog your memory if you were ever flying by.

After I finished touring the cell blocks, I headed out to walk around the rest of the island. It was a good way to spend the early afternoon. After watching the video in a building right near the docks, I got in line to get back underway and head toward the mainland.

Back to the dock. After debarking the ship, I walked over to the San Francisco wharf for lunch and realized that it was fleet week weekend.

The Navy Band was performing!

And the blue angels were performing later on in the afternoon.

I can highly recommend a tour of Alcatraz if you have the time and want to learn some history. There may have been escapees and even a stand taken from the prisoners. I’ll let you head to Alcatraz to see how that ended up playing out. Unfortunately nothing like “The Rock.”

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