Alcatraz Island Tour 31 May 2007

Sitting in the San Francisco Bay a little over a mile and a quarter from Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz Island was the location of the Federal Penitentiary of last resort from 1934 to 1963. It is now part of the National Park Service and a major tourist attraction as well as wildlife sanctuary. It is well worth the time to see. They have self-guided audio tours, and there are often former residents (both prisoners and guards) available as docents. Due to a combination of cold water and treacherous currents, the prison had a reputation for being inescapable, though at least one prisoner managed to swim all the way across to San Francisco (where he was captured), and now every year hundreds of athletes manage to complete the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon . (I've done the triathlon twice - without a wet suit).

Most of these pictures were taken with a Canon SD550 digital camera. If you can suggest better captions, or would like the full resolution versions of these pictures (they are ten times the size of the bigger pictures I put here) send me email.

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