Angel Island

When pandemic hit and we're all sitting at home in quarantine (when we're not zooming for work), the hubs and I were taking mental notes of the attractions/spots nearby that we have not visited yet and will visit once these attractions are open for tourism. Alcatraz Island is one of them, but we decided that we would visit this island when we have out-of-towners to tour. The other island that we have not yet seen is Angel Island.

Angel Island is the second largest island in the San Francisco Bay. I just found out from the 'net that there are 18 islands in the bay including ncluding uninhabited rocks, protected wildlife refuges, and developed islands with sizable populations. Three of the largest are Alameda (the largest), Yerba Buena and Angel Island. However, Mr. Wikipedia listed more, click here. I didn't realize there's so many of them.

Sometime last year (or late 2020 perhaps) when there was some semblance of normalcy, we decided to visit Angel Island; however, we found that the ferry to get there was not running yet. And so last month on a hot Saturday, we decided to go to the beach. On the way there, though, the husband had a second thought and made the decision to take the ferry to Angel Island instead, so we could do some walking/hiking. We knew our time there was limited given the lateness of the hour, so we just picked one thing to do and that was to visit the the Angel Island Immigration Museum. Angel Island is the west coast version of Ellis Island.

We took the ferry from Tiburon. You can also take the ferry from San Francisco.

Ferry leaving Angel Island for San Francisco.

Here is what I got from the net: The U.S. Immigration Station is approximately a 1.5 mile walk from the ferry dock at Ayala Cove. Use of Northridge Trail, including the 144 steps to Perimeter Road is the shortest and most direct way to the Immigration Station. Well, the hike up from the dock made the whole walk seemed longer than the 1.5 mile it actually is. But boy, the views are stunning!

The views from up there were incredible.

The Museum

The newspaper is dated Sunday, June 3, 1934.

On the walk back, I took these photos of the bay.

Leaving Angel Island.

Someday, I would love to revisit this museum again (the whole island too, of course). This visit to the museum gets you straight in the heart, being an immigrant myself.