Northern California Getaway, Part I: Swim Around Alcatraz

The Rock

Does the above picture shout, "vacation," to you? Maybe it does. Alcatraz is one of the great tourist destinations in the San Francisco area. But does jumping into the water that surrounds that island sound like much of a vacation to you? Me neither. But that's exactly what started our family's trip to northern California earlier this month.

That's Alcatraz to the left of Matt.

This is kind of the way Matt likes to do things lately. We plan a great getaway that starts with a grueling test of physical and mental endurance. Well, not for me or the kids, obviously, but for him. Though I must admit that standing on the jetty that juts out into the bay early Saturday morning with the wind whipping our hair and freezing our noses...well, it was somewhat of a physical test for the rest of the family too.

And perhaps the morning was a bit of a pyschological test for me as well. The knowledge that a Great White breeding ground lay somewhere within 30 miles of the bay did not rest easy on my mind. I mostly jest because I was not that worried about marine life. People do this swim and versions of it all the time (though Matt did feel something bump his foot on the other side of the island--said he thought it was a swimmer but no one was there when he turned to look!). I was truly more afraid of the serious currents that I knew the swimmers would be fighting. Fortunately, there were tons of safety crew in kayaks. They followed the swimmers closely and let them know which direction to turn and about the changing conditions. I was thankful they were there.

Matt did a fantastic job. The race officials said that all the records were broken that day. The winner beat Matt's time by 20 minutes, but it wasn't because Matt wasn't prepared for this race. He trained for many weeks and was in great condition. He's an incredibly strong swimmer, determined and very competitive. When I saw that first swimmer pass the breakwater I was astonished. He came in straight off the rock. So did the next 4 or 5 swimmers. And then the conditions changed. The next ten or so swimmers (including Matt) who passed by me on the jetty looked tired but in relatively good shape considering the distance they'd already traveled. But when they hit this one spot, it was like they started swimming in place; one strong stroke followed by another but without any resulting forward progression. It was amazing. You could see it in the water -- two currents were simultaneously pushing against each other and keeping the swimmers essentially motionless. And this was a good day on the bay. You can imagine what the prisoners trying to escape Alcatraz endured, without training and suffering from much poorer nutrition than these athletes likely ever will.

Doesn't that look cold and miserable????

But like I said, he did a great job. Given his time of 1:33:58, had he been participating in the same race a year or two ago he would have taken first or second place. Did I mention it was 5.6K around the island and back? That's about 3 1/2 miles, folks. Incredible.

We are all very proud of him. Especially Ford. We ran back from the jetty to try and catch Matt coming out of the water, but he beat us back. Ford was so excited. About his seeing his Daddy swimming in the water...

catching up with him after the race...

and hanging out with all the athletes drinking hot chocolate to warm themselves up.

It was a good day.

- Stacy