11 Sep Alcatraz, Devil’s Island

9/7 is Labor Day, what did you do for the three day weekend?

My friends and I bought the tickets online from “Alcatraz Cruises”, the only official provider of tickets, providing exclusive transportation to Alcatraz Island. Followed the process and got a “voucher” link, just printed it out for boarding. But I displayed the “order confirmation” and went to the willcall window to get a “real” ticket.

9/ 5 Saturday is a super shinny sun day! But walked along the Fisherman’s Wharf area is not so hot because of the wind from the sea is pleasant. The first thing we arrived there (by muni F line) to do was… In and Out!!! We are the second customers on that day, when they opened on 10:30. After the brunch, we walked (about 20 minutes from Pier 39) to Pier 33 for boarding. We also did some shopping on the way of course!

Oh, I’m the white shirt girl in the middle:)

It took about 30-40 minutes waiting to go on board, and you can choose to take a picture in front of the scene set of Alcatraz Island.

The cruise was about 20 minutes, the scenery is great, the whole SF city left behind you!

Landed the island, we just follow the crowd, and there was an art fair about the prisoners. I read most of their story, why they had been put into the jail. By the way, there is a free WiFi on the island!

Then we went into the jail! Everyone got a personal guide equipment, we all chose the Chinese version, is a little silly about the translate haha! I’ll try the English next time. We also found something inaccurate on the direction board about the Chinese, I thought it’s to difficult for not Chinese to tell “門, 開, 問, 閉” and so on. So we just let it go!!

We followed the guide and walk the whole jail, I felt pretty cool to walk on the same path that someone or something terrible had happened and imaged the picture what the guide said in the cell.

Do not worry about the return trip, go back to the place where you landed before 6:30(the last schedule).

Alcatraz Island is definitely a spot we have to visit in San Francisco! Don’t miss it!