Alcatraz Island beckons you to photograph her. The island is filled with contrasts: concrete versus nature, ragged ruins versus the breathtaking view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate.

Take a virtual harbor (waterline) tour that circles the island. You are afforded a view and history of Alcatraz not experienced by Island tour visitors.

Between 1969 and 1971, Alcatraz Island was under occupation for 19 months. A small group of people who called themselves "Indians of All Tribes" went to the island on a chartered boat, declared that they were taking back their land, and unknowingly shaped history. The Alcatraz occupation fueled the whole Indian movement, and had global impact.

Alcatraz was a well-fortified stronghold in the San Francisco Bay. It took so long for supplies to reach the island, that it is fortunate that it was never under siege. A building designed to hold Rodman cannons was obsolete before it was even finished. Still, there was a military life on the island, and it served as a military prison before it was ever a civilian one.

When the need for prisons increased with rising crime, the government looked at Alcatraz. In the Bay, close to land, but still so far away due to currents, tides, and water temperature, Alcatraz seemed like the perfect choice for a maximum security penitentiary. For 34 years it operated as such, harboring the worst of the worst. This was where you ended up when you had blown it everywhere else...

Due to its isolation in the Bay, Alcatraz has developed a very unique flora and fauna. There are roses here that don't even have names! The residents had extensive gardens, and some of the prisoners did as well. What grows on the east side isn't necessarily to be found on the west side. The deer mice on Alcatraz are a different color from deer mice elsewhere - all the concrete has favored lighter colored mice, and so the entire population on the island has adapted.

Think you know Alcatraz? Well, take our quiz, and find out. Answer 10 questions about Alcatraz Island when it was a prison.

The history of the Alcatraz inmates. A group of 19 Hopi Indians were confined to the island around the turn of the century. This is the history behind those events.

See 360-degree panoramas if you have the Quicktime VR plugin! Longer download times, but worth the wait!

More tours are planned - watch this space, and enjoy the rest of the site!