Cabrillo National Monument

The Cabrillo National Monument, or Point Loma National Park as it is referred to by many, is one of those places that you can visit over and over again and never see it all. Not because it is such a huge park but because the beauty of this park is constantly changing.

On the left of the picture above is downtown San Diego with Coronado in the foreground; beyond Zuniga Shoal is San Diego Bay and on the right side of this panoramic pic is Mexico. The road that you see in the foreground leads to a trail that takes you down to the water where you can get closer look at Zuniga Shoal and the hundreds of boats coming and going from San Diego every day.

On this clear day in April the Coronado Islands revealed themselves beyond the new Point Loma Lighthouse. More functional than the old one on the hill, the charm of old lighthouse can't be matched. Standing at the ocean overlook up on the hill, the islands look like you can reach out and touch them. They are actually in Mexican, not US, waters and are frequently obscured by a marine layer.

I have to admit the old Point Loma Lighthouse is what draws me to Cabrillo. It's light shines for tourists now but when built in 1854 provided a sense of security for all mariners near these San Diego waters. The lighthouse keepers were isolated. Today, it's really nothing to drive out Point Loma to the Cabrillo, But back in the day, when the lighthouse was built, it was a full day's journey to get there and another day to get back to San Diego. In 1854 San Diego was the area that we now call Old Town.  You can read about the history of the old lighthouse on Wikipedia, or better yet, visit the Cabrillo National Monument yourself when you RetireInSanDiego. I will share more information about the Cabrillo in future blogs but you need to see it for yourself, stand in the old lighthouse and look out into the Pacific with your own eyes, to get the true sense of it. I'm sure that you will be transported in time back to the days when San Diego was born just like me. How exciting it must have been to part of it.

Happy Wednesday from San Diego.