The New York Times, May 25, 2008
Don't Bother With the Hotel Pool
What I remember most about a nighttime tour I took of Alcatraz a couple of years ago was the fact that — given the nearness of the island prison to downtown San Francisco, just a mile and a half offshore — inmates were often haunted by the sounds of life across the water. When city residents held New Year’s Eve parties and their reveling carried across the cold, current-roiled bay, the two shores seemed maddeningly close to the prisoners.

I recalled this fact last October as I stood on an idling fishing boat at the edge of Alcatraz Island, eyeing the distance I was meant to swim. Was it really that close? For a moment, that mile and a half of choppy water might as well have been 10 miles. Yet when I finally jumped into chilly San Francisco Bay, all I felt was the distinct personal thrill of my very own Escape From the Rock.