So today is the day I go to Alcatraz. Been looking forward to this one. I again wake up nice and early and set off to pier 33. It's a little bit of a walk but I get there in plenty of time. It's real busy, there are tourists milling about everywhere. I get in line for the 10 o'clock ferry - my on-line ticket scans OK (there was still a part of me that thought I might of been scammed that can now be put to rest) and I get on the boat. I decide to stand on the bow, I'll get a good view of the action from there. There is a sign proclaiming a 'wet zone' right at the front, so a few people wander over to the bow then decide they don't want to get wet, so turn back. I figure the seas are calm and it's a big boat so it's not going to be chopping and cutting through big waves, I'll risk it. If I do get wet, the California sun will sort that out in quick order.
Sure enough it's totally fine and I have got absolutely glorious views of SF, the Golden Gate and Alcatraz as we approach. It's turning into a beautiful day again.
OK, the rock, here I come. I'm really quite excited at this point.
We dock and disembark. Well here I am. First we have to listen to an introduction by a lady park ranger. Oh great, but actually it's mercifully short. Basically don't trash the place - I got it. Immediately there is a guided tour starting from a ranger called Barney about notable escape attempts, and it's starting right on the dock, so I join that. Its really informative, and he takes a group of us around to a few of the outlying buildings while talking us through some interesting stories about people that tried to escape. He first tells about about a guy that slowly assembled an Army uniform over the course of ten years by stealing bits of it as it came through the laundry. Eventually he had a full uniform, so he jumped on one of the boats departing the island. It turns out the boat wasn't going to SF though, it was going to an Army base, so he immediately got recaptured. The next guy he tells us about is quite dark. Apparently the dude had a bit of a history of mental illness and he scaled a fence and tried to jump down a 75 foot cliff. Escape attempt or suicide - it seems like the latter from the way he told it. It seems that quite a few people tried to swim it - and one person did make it all the way to the coast just next to the Golden Gate bridge, which is a long way away. Apparently he was so exhausted he flopped up onto the rocks and passed out. Some passing kids saw him, though he needed help and called the police. The ranger doesn't tell us about the most famous escape - the Clint Eastwood one - he says we'll find out about that in the main tour. We finish in the 'New Industries Building' which was a workshop the prisoners worked in. It's big and empty now, but all the window frames are rusting, and have broken bits of glass in them. Barney tells us the reason Alcatraz ultimately closed was simply because it was too expensive to run - the water tower had to be refilled twice a week (The island ran its own laundry service) and it also had no sewage treatment, so prisoner's business was just being dumped into the bay and in the sixties people were starting to realise that's not great.
Now the tour is done, I go to the main Cell house to start the audio tour. Its quite a climb up there on a series of ramps, so I take it easy. I get in, and you have to queue in the shower block, which is odd. When I get to the guy handing out the audio tours he's asking people their language and then sending them to another person who can hook them up. As we get close, he's calling out 'four in Australian' or 'Two in Canadian' so when I get there I say I'll have it in English. He seems a bit deflated that I'm not playing along. 'Where are you from?' England I say and he suddenly perks up as he realises I'm not being a spoil sport.
So the tour goes around the main cell blocks I recognise from films and so on. It's narrated by a former prison guard, which gives it authenticity sure, but he also barks instructions at you to move around the place.
The recreation yard is a famous spot. Imagine being able to see the Golden Gate bridge and all that civilization, yet being in maximum security at the same time. Apparently in certain spots in the cell house on calm days you could hear sounds from SF.
I visit D block - the hole as they call it. Looks about as grim as you might imagine. The narrator tells me the regulations were that prisoners in solitary were supposed to have the light on at all times, but the guards used to leave them in there in pitch darkness. One prisoner tells a tale of how he used to pull one of the buttons off his shirt, stand at one end of the cell, throw the button over his shoulder then look for it to amuse himself. Sounds horrible.
And of course the cells where the infamous escape happened. The props in the photo were made for a TV show, they're not the originals. But here is where it happened. It's romantic to imagine escaping from the most inescapable prison on the planet, and the ingenious way they did it is fascinating.
After the audio tour ends there is a huge gift shop. I do want to buy something, but I'm also conscious my bag is not going to be able to contain much more at this point. I can't decide, but then I see the checkout has a big queue, so I decide screw it and leave. I walk back down to the dock where there is a smaller, empty gift shop and I finally decide on a keyring. I get the boat back - by this time people have sussed out the bow does not pose any wetness hazard and it's crammed. The sun is beating down on me, so I'm thinking I might retire back to the hotel.
When you are queuing up to go over in the morning they take your picture, and by the time you've come back they've developed it so you can pay them $20 to have the souvenir. I have to take a look out of curiosity and of course my eyes are closed in it. No sale.
As I'm walking back a group of three guys walk past me and I get a big whiff of weed. It's not quite legal yet, but it looks like people are starting to flout the law. I get back and make an effort to get a better seat on the plane. Sure enough they have allocated me to another seat at the back near the window. No chance of an upgrade to economy plus or whatever, but I do pay 40 pounds to get a seat by the exit row, which hopefully will do the trick.
That's me about done with SF - a day of travelling again tomorrow. Not really looking forward to it, but then again I will be getting closer to home.