Maz NZ and Oz

San Francisco Continued. Bay sailing and Alcratraz

Tuesday the 19th of July, we went on a sailing trip around San Francisco Bay. The weather wasn't great. In fact I had to wear my ski type jacket that I only had with me 'cos I was heading for winter in New Zealand! The photos aren't great 'cos of the visibility, but the experience was fantastic. The boat was a catamaran and was called the Sea Cat Adventurer.

That afternoon, we went to Alcatraz and had an audio tour of the cell house. It was really interesting and you can really feel what a cold and miserable and damp place it would be to be incarcerated in. What I found fascinating was the the prison officers and their families used to live on the Island just down from the cell house. The children took a boat into San Francisco every day to go to school (it's only about 10-15 minutes) and the families used never lock their doors. They felt they lived in a very safe place since all the criminals there were securely locked away.

Also interesting (and news to me) was the fact that, in 1969, a group of Native Americans took over the island in protest to their treatment by the US government at the time. The occupation lasted until 1971 and eventually, the government policies of trying to disband all Navtive American tribes was discontinued. You can read more about alcratraz at http://www.nps.gov/alcatraz/ if you're interested

posted by Maz @ 1:21 pm