The island is shut to visitors through Nov. 18 while Alcatraz City Cruises pays for new dock pilings, and Pier 33 businesses are bracing for a quieter November.
For the next three and a half weeks, the most-visited stop on San Francisco’s waterfront will be visible from Pier 33 but out of reach. Alcatraz Island closed to visitors on Monday so crews can drive new pilings for the ferry dock that every visitor uses to reach the former federal penitentiary, the National Park Service announced last month.
The park service expects the repairs to be finished by Nov. 18. Alcatraz City Cruises, the park’s ferry concessioner, says it anticipates reopening on Nov. 19, a date it describes as subject to change.
It is the third closure of the year tied to the same dock, and the longest.
What failed, and what is being fixed
The trouble began in January, when one of the five pilings that secure the dock to the island failed. The island closed for nine days starting Jan. 14. An inspection then found that two of the five pilings needed repair, according to the park service. A second closure, of six days in April, was used to strengthen the three pilings that were still serviceable.
This fall’s work is the heavy part: pile driving and the full replacement of the two remaining pilings. The timing is set by the calendar of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, which restricts in-water construction in the bay after Nov. 30, the park service said. Once the work is complete, the agency expects the dock to have a useful life of 20 to 30 years.
“The original failure occurred in January,” Antonette Sespene, general manager of Alcatraz City Cruises, told ABC7 News. “Our vessels need to be able to pull up and dock and ensure that it’s secure.”
Ms. Sespene acknowledged the length of the shutdown. “It’s not ideal,” she told the station. “We certainly would prefer not to have the island shut down for this long. But safety is the greatest concern.”
Who pays
The repairs are being funded and carried out by Alcatraz City Cruises, not the federal government. The park service said no tax dollars or federal funds are being used, because the company’s concession agreement requires it to pay for the work.
The arrangement matters for a park that depends on a single boat landing. The company runs more than 3,200 ferry trips a year from Pier 33 and carries about 1.5 million visitors to the island, according to the park service. There is no other public way onto Alcatraz.
What ticket holders should know
All tours scheduled from Oct. 26 through Nov. 18 have been canceled, according to the company’s closure notice. Refunds are being issued automatically to the original form of payment and should appear within five to seven business days. Visitors can rebook for Nov. 19 or later. Those who bought through third-party sellers such as GetYourGuide or Tripadvisor are told to go through those sellers instead.
For visitors who still want to see the island up close, the company is running a 90-minute Bay Discovery Cruise from Pier 33 through Nov. 1. The boat circles the bay but does not dock at Alcatraz.
During the closure there will be no tours or cellhouse visits of any kind, and no private drop-offs on the island.
A quieter stretch of the Embarcadero
The closure lands on a part of the waterfront that has built its rhythm around Alcatraz departures. Visitors bound for the island typically pass through the stretch between Pier 33, Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf, and the vendors, pedicab drivers and cafes along that route depend on them.
Vendors near the pier told NBC Bay Area they were worried about the effect on business over the coming weeks. Carmen, who owns the fruit stand Nothing But Fruits, said she expected fewer customers. Jose D., who operates with Golden Gate Pedicabs, told the station that he would no longer be stopping near the pier while the boats are not running.
The Fisherman’s Wharf Community Benefit District, the Port of San Francisco, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and the park service’s public affairs office did not respond to requests for comment from The Inquirer on how the closure might affect wharf businesses. Alcatraz City Cruises also did not respond to The Inquirer’s questions.
Not every visitor got the word, even though the closure was announced in September. Ian and Leanne Gilbert, who traveled from England with tickets for Monday, told ABC7 they learned of it only on Sunday night from other travelers. “It was another couple that mentioned that their tickets had been canceled,” Ms. Gilbert told the station. “So, that’s when we checked.”
The timing
Late October and November fall outside Alcatraz’s summer peak. According to the park service, the window was dictated by the bay’s in-water work restrictions, which take effect after Nov. 30.
If the schedule holds, the island will reopen the week before Thanksgiving. If the work runs long, the commission’s Nov. 30 cutoff for in-water work leaves little room to finish before winter.
For now, the practical advice from the company is the same as on its closure page: check the reopening date before booking, and expect any change to be posted there first.
Celia Marroquín covers San Francisco City Hall, the Board of Supervisors, city departments and the neighborhoods where their decisions land, for the Inquirer’s City Desk. More from Celia Marroquín
