Swim Alcatraz and more…
World-Class Open Water Swimming
with the Bay’s Most Experienced Team
Swim Alcatraz.
$279 Alcatraz Swims • Small Groups • Professionally Guided
Escape from Alcatraz with the Bay’s most experienced swim company. For $279, you’ll get a pace-matched, safety-first Alcatraz swim—led by USCG Master Captains with our own modern fleet. We’ve been swimming in San Francisco Bay for over 20 years and guiding Alcatraz crossings professionally since 2017. As USCG-licensed captains and open water experts, we’ve helped thousands cross Alcatraz off their bucket list—safely, successfully, and confidently. No one swims Alcatraz more than we do—because it’s what we do daily.
With over 90 group swims in 2025 and over 80 planned for 2026—plus solo, private, and custom events available year-round—this is open water on your terms. Bring your crew, celebrate something big, or take it on solo.
Success is an email away.
Epic Swims, Every Day.
Small-group. Pace-matched. Professionally guided
Since 2017, Pacific Open Water Swim Co. has helped thousands successfully Swim Alcatraz and dozens of other courses—with safety, precision, and unmatched local knowledge. Our USCG Master Captains and purpose-built vessels deliver the highest standard in open water support. We’ve raised the standard in open water swimming—we’re qualified, proven, and unmatched.
This video is an eight-minute look at how we experience San Francisco Bay and Lake Tahoe.
These scenes reflect the conditions, intensity, and raw beauty of open water swimming as we live it—with our clients.
The only thing better is being out there with us. (Volume up!)
Dozens of Great SF Swims Available…
Alcatraz Swims
Experience the thrill of Alcatraz with six unforgettable swim routes—each carefully timed to match the Bay’s shifting currents and calm morning waters. From the iconic Alcatraz Escape to scenic routes with sweeping views of San Francisco, every swim delivers a one-of-a-kind adventures.
Other SF Swims
Enjoy San Francisco Bay’s diverse and breathtaking beauty with our super-fun, challenging courses, each offering a unique adventure. Bridge-to-Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, the challenging Angel Island Circumnavigation, incredible night swims, and many, many more.
Marathon Swimming
Swimmers training for the English Channel, Catalina, Lake Tahoe, and other major goals come to us every season. With proven conditions and expert guidance, we’ll help you prepare. We also regularly pilot the 10-mile Round-Trip Angel Island—one of the Bay’s most demanding swims.
Swimming Is Our Only Business
We Don’t Do This on the Side.
We Do This Every Day.
What Swimmers Are Saying About Us
Why They Trust Us—In Their Own Words
Visiting San Francisco?
Make It a Swim You’ll Never Forget.
Our flexible scheduling and daily swims make it easy to add an Alcatraz Escape or other amazing SF Open Water Swim to your trip.
Here for business, holiday, or just passing through? We’ve got you.
We run more than 90 Alcatraz swims a year—early mornings, weekdays, and across all seasons. If you’re flying in, we’ll work with your travel window to match you to the right swim based on your pace, experience, and goals.
Whether you’re here for a few days or just one morning, start by filling out our Arrange a Swim form. We ask the right questions for travelers—date range, availability, pace, and preferences—so we can quickly recommend the best option.
We swim 24/7-365 with USCG Master Captains, purpose-built boats, and small, pace-matched groups. This isn’t a sightseeing tour—it’s real open water swimming, done right.
Marathon Swimming
We train marathon swimmers—and we swim marathon courses.
From 2, 4, 6, and 8+ hour training swims to official 6-hour qualifiers in sub-60°F water, our marathon training programs are built for serious swimmers. Real training plans, real coaching, and real distance—led by those who’ve done it.
Our courses include some of San Francisco’s most demanding routes: Round-Trip Angel Island (10 miles), Four Islands (14 miles), the 21-mile Circumnavigation of San Francisco, and more. We’ve piloted more marathon swims in the Bay than any other operator, including 49 Round-Trip Angel Island completions with a 96% success rate.
Since 2017, we’ve piloted over 355 marathon swims across San Francisco Bay, Lake Tahoe, and the California coast.
We didn’t add marathon swimming to our business—we built the business for marathon swimming.
More Iconic Swims
Swim the Golden Gate Bridge, Bridge to Bridge, Angel Island, and beyond
Take on San Francisco open water swimming with courses that deliver. We offer dozens of options for every level—from beginner-friendly, flat-water sessions to night swims, the 9-mile Prison to Prison, the 21-mile Circumnavigation of San Francisco, offshore adventures, and some of the toughest marathon swims anywhere.
From your first swim to your next channel, we’ve got you covered.
We’re swimmers ourselves and know what it takes to achieve—at your pace, your success.
There are few city skylines as iconic and beautiful as San Francisco’s—especially from the water.
This image captures a swimmer finishing the 10km Bridge to Bridge swim—scenic, satisfying, and a stepping stone to more demanding courses.
Kara and Nate’s Alcatraz Adventure on YouTube
Watch Kara and Nate take on their first Alcatraz swim—an unforgettable challenge guided by our expert team. A detailed training plan and optional, experienced angel swimmers supported these fit but novice open-water swimmers.
Their effort—captured in a video viewed over 4.1 million times and trending in YouTube’s Top 10—shows what’s possible with the right preparation and support, even if the tone is a little more dramatic than we’d probably choose.
A must-watch for anyone curious about swimming Alcatraz for the first time.
Thinking About a Swim?
Exploring Options? Let’s Talk.
You don’t need to be fully committed to start the conversation. Whether you’re planning months ahead, wondering if you’re ready, or just want to understand the options—we’re happy to help.
Tell us a little about yourself and your goals, and we’ll walk you through what’s possible, how it works, or what we can do. No pressure, no sales pitch—just straightforward guidance from people who do this every day.
The tsunami did arrive last night, though it doesn’t appear to have caused much damage. News reports are focusing on wave heights in Hawaii and elsewhere, but here’s what really happened in real time at the Golden Gate.
The second wave peak lifted the Bay only modestly. Then, over the next 18 minutes, the water dropped more than 2 feet. By 2:30 AM, the third surge slammed in, lifting the level back up 2½ feet in just 18 minutes.
That kind of swing doesn’t just change the surface. It drives the current from a modest 1.4 knots to more than 2.5 knots. Flows under the Gate jumped from around 30 million gallons per second to nearly 100 million gallons per second — all in less than 20 minutes.
The danger in a tsunami isn’t only the wave you see at the shoreline. It’s the Bay itself, moving at astronomical scale. From what we’ve seen in past tsunamis, water levels will keep sloshing around for another day or so. But practically, we don’t expect this to affect our swims or anything else on the water now.
Crazy stuff.
Tsunami advisories remind us why we stay alert. Authorities are doing an excellent job keeping us informed, and the moment we let our guard down is when a big one is likely to come.
We’ll be monitoring the situation closely and will likely move our boats out of the marina here if needed so nothing is at risk. At this time, we do not anticipate any impact to our swims over the next three or four days. If that changes, we will contact swimmers directly.
If you’re in low‑lying areas, please take appropriate caution and follow official guidance.
10 km Bridge to Bridge
Golden Gate to Bay Bridge. A fast current swim where you move quicker than you realize and hardly notice. Perfect conditions today, with USCG licensed captains coordinating directly with Vessel Traffic Service and bar pilots. That ship only looks close. It is far larger than it seems, and its passing was fully planned.
Fly in and swim Alcatraz, Bridge to Bridge, and dozens more at SwimSF.com.
We’re on the water daily and setup swims like this as requested—we have multiple boats to take folks out, year round!
12-miles? No problem. Eric Kinney completed the 12-Mile True Width Lake Tahoe swim on July 25, 2025 in 05:46:45 (pending ratification).
Eric is a member of Menlo Masters Swim and has completed the Catalina Channel - and has a few more marathon swims on the upcoming calendar.
Lake Tahoe gave a little texture early on in the swim but showed her beautiful blue and Eric completed the swim with a steady stroke count and ease.
Evan, Eric’s son, crewed the swim as he had also been on his Catalina Channel swim. It’s a good team!
The swim was observed under the Lake Tahoe Open Water Swimming Association.
#marathonswim #marathonswimming #marathonswimmer #lakeswim #swimtahoe #laketahoe #openwaterswimming #coldwaterswimming #mastersswimming #openwaterswimmer
Meghan Hardin - you are a marathon swimmer!
Meghan completed the 12-Mile True Width Lake Tahoe swim on July 23, 2025 in 05:36:24 (pending ratification) - a very quick time!
A member of North Bay Aquatics Masters in Marin, she shows that all good open water swimmers are built in the pool.
Crewing for Meghan was fellow North Bay member and veteran marathon swimmer Abby Pledger.
Both Meghan and Abby get their cold water training in the San Francisco Bay and aren’t afraid of February water temps.
The swim was observed under the Lake Tahoe Open Water Swimming Association.
#marathonswim #marathonswimming #marathonswimmer #lakeswim #swimtahoe #laketahoe #openwaterswimming #coldwaterswimming #mastersswimming #openwaterswimmer
Wow! Katherine Suyeyasu completed the 12-Mile True Width of Lake Tahoe on July 23, 2025 in 07:11:38 (pending ratification).
Katherine had hoped to finish between 8-9 hours and was quite surprised when she heard her finish time. It’s been a dream for many years to swim across the lake - dream achieved!
A beloved member of the Crissy Field swimmers in San Francisco, Katherine was crewed by husband Dan and fellow swimmer Marjorie Smith.
Katherine’s swim was observed by veteran marathon swimmer Ranie Pearce for the Lake Tahoe Open Water Swimming Association.
#marathonswim #marathonswimming #marathonswimmer #lakeswim #swimtahoe #laketahoe #openwaterswimming #coldwaterswimming #goalgetter
Yes, Lake Tahoe blue is real...really stunning! @katherinesuyeyasu and @meghanhardin are making incredible progress across the 12-Mile True Width swim course. 💙 #marathonswimming #marathonswimmer #swimtahoe #laketahoe #lakeswimming
12 miles in 05:10:18!!
Jon Christensen and Sean Dunnigan made extremely quick work of the 12-mile True Width course on Lake Tahoe - July 20, 2025.
Originally scheduled to swim a day later, the pair elected to go a day earlier to avoid the 20-25mph winds that were forecasted for Monday. They were rewarded with stunning, flat conditions and water temps upwards of 71F.
Jon is no stranger to long swims and Sean joined in to complete his first marathon swim.
The two were crewed by fellow South End Rowing Club and marathon swim veterans Leah Taylor-Kearney and Andrew Cotter.
The swim was observed under the Lake Tahoe Open Water Swimming Association.
#marathonswimming #marathonswimmer #marathonswim #swimtahoe #tahoeswimming #lakeswim #coldwaterswimming #wildswimming #lakeswimming #openwaterswimming
Clinics and Coaching
We’re a Full-Service Swimming Company
Our stroke clinics and private coaching are led by certified, full-time professionals—dedicated coaches who are also successful channel and marathon swimmers. These aren’t part-time instructors or hobbyists. They’ve done the work and know how to guide others through it.
Whether you’re refining technique, training for a marathon swim, or preparing for your next big goal, we provide personalized support every step of the way. With custom training plans, structured programs, and focused webinars, we give you the tools to swim smarter, stronger, and farther.
We’re serious about swimming—and fully invested in helping you succeed.
One of our purpose-built Axopar 28 escort vessels—Finnish-designed, custom-modified for open water swimming, and equipped with low-emission engines and advanced marine electronics. Fast, stable, and fully configured for safe, serious support in San Francisco Bay.
Open Water Swimming, Done Right
Built by Swimmers. Trusted by Thousands.
Founded in 2017, Pacific Open Water Swim Co. delivers professionally escorted open water swims in San Francisco Bay and Lake Tahoe. With over 355 marathon swims and 900+ small-group outings supported to date, we operate more Alcatraz, Bridge-to-Bridge, and marathon swims each year than any other organization.
Every swim is led by USCG-licensed Master Captains, supported by trained crew, and the company is operated by experienced open water swimmers. Unlike others, we don’t rely on rented fishing boats, water taxis, dinner cruise ships, or volunteer kayakers—setups that fall short on safety, oversight, and professionalism. Our operations are built for serious open water swimming, with every detail designed for success—for swimmers, by swimmers.