I took this photo around 9:40 AM, on a foggy Monday morning, when we left Pier 33 to see Alcatraz and Angel Island. Now, I always wanted to see Alcatraz, but I couldn’t get tickets for just that tour, so Rok and I bought tickets for a double tour – that includes seeing Angel Island. And I am SO HAPPY we did that. Angel Island is just so, so beautiful and if I lived in San Francisco, I’d definitely visit the island often. The views from the top are amazing.
Angel Island is a state park, and was used for a variety of purposes, including military forts, a US Public Health Service Quarantine Station, and a US Bureau of Immigration inspection and detention facility. (More here and here.)
The area is really lovely, you can walk around, or explore it with a bicycle, or if you’re on a tour like we were, they drive you around in a little shuttle. I forgot the name of our tour guide, but she was a really cool middle-aged lady, and she made the whole experience a lot more fun.
I can’t remember correctly but I think some houses are occupied, as some have plants outside, chairs, etc. and just look a bit nicer from the empty buildings.
We stopped here to enjoy the breathtaking view.
Some of the trees are still black from the awful 2008 fire.
The deer! I was surprised at first, but the tour guide told us they actually keep a population on the island. I got the impression they don’t hunt the deer, which made me really happy, but judging by this entry, the population is controlled.
This is the view from the top. Amazing!
