Angel Island

It was the perfect mid-week getaway. Out on Angel Island, you’re in the middle of the bay, surrounded by San Francisco, Marin, and Oakland; so close to everything, and yet perfectly removed. In the winter, there is only one ferry to the island at 9:15am and one ferry leaving from the island at 3:20pm. It being a Tuesday in February and all, almost no one else was on the island. Just natural beauty, history, and views all around.

Every part of Angel Island offers a different view of the Bay. We started from the northwest corner and worked our way clockwise around the island. The first stop: Immigration Station, once the “Ellis Island of the West,” where approximately one million immigrants, largely from China, were detained and inspected while trying to enter the United States.

These rooms were packed with bunks. Due to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which barred Chinese from entering the country, many of those held at Angel Island spent years at the Immigration Station.

Those held at the station began carving poetry into the walls of the barracks. Officers covered the carvings several times with putty and layers of paint, but certain poems have since been restored and preserved for the history museum.

Eerie.

After the somber reflections at the Immigration Station, we continued our way around the island and saw a lot more natural beauty and ruins from former military bases.

And then it was time to catch the boat back to San Francisco.

The perfect weekday getaway.

Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco but often traveling and working around the world. She creates beautiful, soft, and timeless imagery while capturing the most fleeting of moments. View her work at annawu.com, follow her daily adventures

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