 What looks like a cool small island 2 km offshore from San Francisco Bay is also a former military fort and one of the most notorious federal prisons in American history. Alcatraz Island In 1933, the island was designed to be a high-security prison housing notorious and dangerous criminals. The strong currents around the island and cold water temperatures made escape nearly impossible. The history of Alcatraz inspired movies like The Rock, Escape from Alcatraz, The Bird of Alcatraz and many more. Now, the island is protected by the National Park Service and is open to visitors from around the world to learn about the history of the island, enjoy Alcatraz gardens and a variety of birds that now call The Rock home. This is pier number 33 also known as Alcatraz Landing and this is where you can purchase your tickets if you don't buy them online which you can do. I'm gonna leave some information right here right from here you buy the tickets and then there is the checking line and then you just board right from here so I'm gonna go to the line and I will see you on the boat. The boat ride to get to Alcatraz is about 15 minutes long where you get to see the unique skyline of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, ships and sailboats. As you get off of the boat you will be welcomed by a park ranger giving a briefing about the island, available exhibits at the time of your visit, what to expect during your self-guided tour and safety on the island. What's inside the building you say? Inside there you'll find exhibits on the prison labor that took place there historically as well as all about the Indian occupations where you find their power exhibit learned about 19 months Native Americans took over Alcatraz. Excellent exhibit do not miss it. The views on the island are so incredible that you quickly forget that it was indeed a prison. We checked the exhibit first, this one highlighted life in prison and how inmates go about spending their day. We also learned about American Indian occupation of the island where a group of Native Americans, mostly college students from San Francisco, occupied the island in 1969 to protest federal policies related to American Indians. The tour gets more interesting as you make your way to the cell house. This is the cell house or the cell tower they do have audio tours where you grab your audio player and then you start touring the cells while listening to information about the history of the prison or you can download it to your phone if you want to. So I'm gonna go in and get my device and get touring. Do you want the audio, ma'am? Yes, please. What language? English. Or how many people? Two. This way please. Okay, thank you. What language? English. Okay upstairs under the red sign plus the green button. Listen like a cell phone and leave it inside the bag. Thank you. Oh, this is the COVID version with no headphones. Yeah. This is the audio device that they gave us. It's different from last time we had headphones. The last time we were here but seems like just for COVID right now you just get to the sign where it says start your tour and then you click the green button and you get rolling. The audio tour will direct you and tell you where to stop to learn about inmates, some of their stories, the cells where they lived and much more. Out here for example is the recreation yard. This is where inmates would play some sports like baseball, basketball and softball. They were permitted out into the yard on Saturday, Sundays and on holidays for a maximum five hours. The untended gardens after the prison was closed in 1963 became severely overgrown and had developed into a nesting habitat and sanctuary for numerous birds like pigeons and seagulls. This area is now being preserved and protected. The view of rocky cliffs with the birds and flowers makes Alcatraz a very unique place to visit. This wraps up my adventure in Alcatraz. Thank you so much for watching and I will see you very soon on a new adventure.