Today was an early day, as we were depending on public transport today. We left the house around 08:15, made it to a nearby BART station (and as such got a glimpse of what rush-hour means in the bay area) and made it well ahead of time to the ferry terminal for the 09:45 ferry to Angel Island.

The trip over took about half an hour, where we engaged straight into yet another hike. We first used the paved perimeter road to make it over to the old immigration station, which today houses a museum to tell its story.

Here we left the main road and made it uphill, around the island and up to its peak, which at 240m above sea level offers yet again great views of the whole bay area. After a snack stop up here, we continued our circle around the island and made it back to the pier just in time for the 13:55 departure of the ferry back to San Francisco.

We were truly hungry now; with some hours to spare, we made it along the San Francisco harbor front to eventually arrive at the main ferry building for some oyster fun. From here it was back to one of the higher number piers (by help of some Colombian pedaling power) for the night trip to Alcatraz.

So – we ended up on a ferry once more (this time just the tourist version of that) and another island (this time a more eerie one – with a former high-security prison). After arrival a ranger was guiding us (or better our group of > 50 folks) to the prison entrance – providing a good introduction to Alcatraz, including some anecdotal details on the way. In the prison we were given audio guides and then made our way through the building – a fairly efficient approach for a tourist magnet of this magnitude.

After sunset we made it back to the pier for our ride back to San Francisco and a late dinner in a restaurant in SF’s famous China Town. From here it was straight back to BART, the car on the other side and then bed – after another great and busy day.