San Francisco Saturday 4th Feb

Golden Gate Bridge

We woke up at 5 am just in time to see the Golden Gate Bridge as we sailed through – it was still dark though so no pictures taken then.  The immigration authorities decided to do their processing on board and this started at 6.45 am – we were told that no-one could disembark until all passengers had been seen – unfortunately not all the passengers seemed to have got the message and by 10.00 am 1998 of us were waiting for the two who hadn’t turned up! We were getting agitated as we had booked our boat trip to Alcatraz for 11.00 am and  although we were in the front of the queue to get off we feared that we might miss it.  Anyway  I don’t know if the final two passengers  were found or if the authorities relented but they let us off at 10.30 and we rushed down to Pier 33 to catch our tour – luckily we were docked alongside at pier 35 (I still haven’t found out what happened to all the even numbers).

In one of the cells

Keith on boat with Alcatraz in background

Alcatraz lived up to expectations – apart from it being a fascinating experience to walk  round the prison there are also fabulous views across the bay.  From the dock there is a steep walk up to the prison and on the way you can call in to watch different informative videos – we watched the one about the Native American  Occupation  in 1969 which lasted 19 months and apparently contributed to the president relenting on a decision to close the reservations.  That was after Alcatraz had closed as a prison – it was open from 1934 to 1963 in which time it housed around 1500 inmates – on average about 260 at a time.  We had an excellent audio guide some of it including narration by prisoners and guards – we saw the cells from which the only successful escape was made (as in Clint Eastwood’s Escape from Alcatraz0 – amazing that they managed to dig out the vents in their cells apparently in full view of any guards!  The prison was lighter and more airy than I imagined but still quite daunting, each cell being only 5ft wide by 9ft long and 7ft high.  I was impressed that they all had en suite facilities i.e. a toilet bowl and a wash basin – given that some UK prisons still don’t!

After the tour we took the traditional ‘cable car’ from the dock up across “Nob Hill” (where posh people used to live) and down to the centre of town in Market Street.  They don’t seem too keen on people hanging on the outsides as they used to and the price has gone up to 6 dollars per trip so really it is just for tourists, as the buses and trams at 2 dollars are a better way of getting around.  We contented ourselves with wandering round the town and visiting a couple of bars before walking back along the waterfront.

Cable Car at Market Street terminus

Today (Sunday) we are out in the Pacific heading to Hawaii (arrive 9^th feb)  - I always wondered what the Pacific would be like and it does appear to be different from the Atlantic - we are already seeing the big rolling waves which the captain has promised with some glee are ‘Building Up’  over the next couple of days.