Category Archives: Lighthouses

Moonrise tour of Point Sur Light Station

California, Lighthouses, Photography

Point Sur Light Station1 stands on a 350 foot tall rock on the California coast about 25 miles south of Monterey.

Point Sur Light Station seen from along California Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway). The station's buildings are all on top of the small hill / rock that rises from the ocean behind a grassy meadow on this blustery day. (Marc C. Perkins)
Point Sur Light Station seen from California Highway 1. The tall structure visible at the top is the water tower; the lighthouse itself is not easily visible from the highway.

Michelle and I were lucky enough to be passing by the light station in time for one of their rare moonrise tours (okay, I’ll admit, we planned our trip up the coast around the tour …). These tours happen once or twice a month at (you guessed it) the full moon. The tours start shortly before sunset, and end with the moon rising over the lighthouse.

The old entrance sign to Point Sur Light Station. The sign is now on display in the museum at the station. (Marc C. Perkins)
The old entrance sign to Point Sur Light Station. The sign is now on display in the museum at the station.

The tour starts with everyone waiting at the entrance sign to the State Historic Park & Lighthouse. I was advised to arrive early to ensure a spot in the tour, and while arriving early turned out to not be necessary, it did help me realize just how windy it was going to be. The wind was constant, strong, and cold. I bundled up for the night, and was glad I did. Once the docents arrived everyone was let through the gate and drove to the base of the rock the lighthouse stands on (where one of only two bathrooms on the tour are found).

We soon started walking up the road that leads to the lighthouse. The road is not for the acrophobic: it’s a steep paved road about one car wide that’s chiseled into the edge of the steep rock face with no fence or barrier between the edge and a long drop to the ocean. The road by itself would be fine, but the constant seemingly gale-force winds made people stay far from the edge (and parents hold onto their children rather tightly). Here’s what it looks like:

The docents broke our moon rise tour of Point Sur Light Station into two groups; I was in the first, and in this picture we're looking back at the second group taking a break on the road up to the top of the rock the station is located on. The road to the top has no fence, and the edge steeply drops off to the ocean. It'd be fun to walk on if there hadn't been gale force winds. (Marc C. Perkins)
The docents broke our tour into two groups; I was in the first, and in this picture we're looking back at the second group taking a break on the road up to the top.

The road was a bit of a climb, but persevering paid off with our first view of the lighthouse peeking over the hillside.

The first view of Point Sur Light Station's lighthouse that I got on the day was this one: the lamp room peeking over the hillside as we walked along the narrow roadway tacked onto the hillside. The ocean and sun setting behind incoming coastal fog set the scene nicely. (Marc C. Perkins)
My first view of Point Sur Light Station's lighthouse.
Point Sur Light Station's lighthouse peeking over the top of the hillside it's built on. This is seen from the road that climbs the hill to reach the lighthouse. The day was incredibly windy, and the only barrier on the steep hillside is the vertical wooden beams you can see in the picture. The hillside was covered in blooms, making it beautiful. (Marc C. Perkins)
Point Sur Light shining proud.

Any acrophobia I might have had disappeared entirely with this view 🙂

Even without the lighthouse peeking into view, the walk to the top was filled with entertainment: blooming plants lined the hillside, and the ocean was a beautiful seafoam green.

A hillside covered in blooming plants (yellow, red, and purple) provide foreground for the sandstone assistant keeper's house at the Point Sur Light Station. Three families lived in this house at one time. (Marc C. Perkins)
Assistant Keepers' House.
The water of the ocean to the west of Point Sur Light Station was turned sea foam green thanks to the action of waves and high winds. In this image the blooming hillside is in the frame, providing contrast. (Marc C. Perkins)
Seafoam green. I always thought this was a silly name for a paint color, not a real color!

The lighthouse itself was built in 1889, and is still a functioning navigational aid. The building and its interior are built in the classic lighthouse style of elegant functional simplicity.

Point Sur Light Station's lighthouse seen from the ocean-facing side. A docent from the tour is walking out of the main door of the lighthouse, providing scale. The lighthouse is built on the northern end of the rock the station is on; the stairway visible to the right leads to the rest of the light station. (Marc C. Perkins)
Point Sur Light Station's lighthouse. A docent from the tour is standing by the main door of the lighthouse, providing scale.
A view from the bottom of the stairway leading to the top of Point Sur Light Station's lighthouse's lantern room. I'm a total sucker for lighthouse stairways ? the white iron stairway contrasts beautifully with the wooden central beam and brick exterior (with light streaming in through a window). (Marc C. Perkins)
I'm a total sucker for lighthouse stairways.
A section of the black iron stairway that leads to the top of the lantern room of Point Sur Light Station's lighthouse. I love the contrasty, beautifully textured iron. (Marc C. Perkins)
A section of the iron stairway that leads to the top of the lantern room of Point Sur Light Station's lighthouse.

Some of the most intriguing structures were pieces of cut glass embedded in the floor of the lantern room’s upper level. These were designed to capture the light from the primary source and diffuse it down to the lower levels of the lighthouse building, allowing the lighthouse’s main tower to be lit solely by the primary light. They’re miniature sunroofs if you will.

A set of light diffusing glass crystals placed into the floor of the walkway that surrounds the light in Point Sur Light Station's lighthouse. Photographed from underneath, these crystals are used to illuminate the walkway underneath the light by catching the lighthouse's primary light and diffusing it down to the walkway underneath. (Marc C. Perkins)
A set of light diffusing/diffracting glass crystals placed into the floor of the walkway that surrounds the light in Point Sur Light Station's lighthouse.

In addition to being able to walk around in the lantern room and look at everything up close, we even got to climb out onto the walkway surrounding the lantern room and enjoy the view:

A view looking up the California Coast from the walkway outside the lantern room at the top of Point Sur Light Station's lighthouse. The view was incredible, with low fog rolling in as the sun set, and the sea foam green ocean waves lapping up along the sandy shore. The railing in front provides scale, but doesn't show how incredibly windy it was. (Marc C. Perkins)
A view from the walkway outside the lantern room of Point Sur Light Station's lighthouse.

The view was great (the sun was setting behind the coastal clouds), but even more amazing was how WINDY it was. The door to the walkway was on the leeward side of the building, and so there was virtually no wind there. But walk even a few feet from the door and you suddenly get slammed with a wall of wind. Walking through this wall took tremendous effort (as you can see if you look closely at this picture).

After the tour of the inside of the lantern room we got to climb above the lighthouse, and from there I think I was able to capture a bit of the feel of the night: the slowly rotating dual beams of the lighthouse sweeping over the broad expanse of the ocean while coastal clouds roll in at dusk.

A view of the Pacific Ocean with Point Sur Light Station's light house in the foreground. The sun has just set, and low marine clouds cover the sky, while the light can be seen rotating. The view from the lighthouse is just stunning. This view includes almost none of the hillside, as opposed to #2. (Marc C. Perkins)
A view of the Pacific Ocean at dusk with Point Sur Light Station's lighthouse in the foreground.

A few minutes later we headed to the southern end of the station and watched the moon rise, with the Pacific Ocean, Highway 1, and the California coast as background.

The rising full moon is reflected off of the Pacific Ocean within view of one of the buildings at Point Sur Light Station (the barracks). I love how golden light streams out of the building's windows, illuminating the native plants on the hillside. This image is the ultimate summary of the station's moon rise tours: they're just gorgeous, and you should go on one if you can! (Marc C. Perkins)
Moonrise over Point Sur Light Station.

I could have stayed in that spot a long, long time (assuming I had a heater with me).

If you’re ever in the area, check and see if there’s a tour. As the moon rises the docents break out hot chocolate (available for a suggested donation of $1!2), and life is good.

Footnotes

1 Point Sur is a light station, not just a lighthouse, because it was built to be an independent facility. When it was built there was no easy road that connected it to Monterey, so it was in an extremely remote location. It housed multiple families at a time, and had all the facilities needed for independence: a blacksmith shop, woodworking shop, barn, water tower, and multiple houses.
2 Sadly, I missed the hot chocolate. The entire tour was difficult to photograph, as the tour was not aimed at photographers. The only time I could break out a tripod was as the moon rose, and since we only had about 10 or 15 minutes it was either hot cocoa or pictures, and you know which I’ll choose every time.
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More pictures

To see more pictures from the light station, head to my Point Sur Light Station – Highlights Gallery or, if you’re really a glutton for punishment, head to my Point Sur Light Station – Entire Set Gallery.

Getting There

Point Sur State Historic Park & Lighthouse: Located along California Highway 1 about 25 miles south of Monterey, the entrance to the park is at a small gate along the west side of the highway. The GPS coordinates for the entrance to the park are N 36 18.578 W 121 53.165; it’s just north of the Point Sur Naval Station and near the California Sea Otter Game Refuge. See the park’s website for more information on location and schedules of tours.

The station is a state park run entirely by volunteers; it’s only open during guided tours, and there is no access at other times. You do need to plan ahead: if you stop by at a random time, you’ll get a picture much like the first one of this post and then drive on your way, never knowing what you missed. Parking is free (stop by the gate at first, and then drive into a small lot at the base of the rock once a docent opens the gate), and bathrooms are limited (there’s one at the interior parking lot, and one in the last building the tour goes through). There are no public facilities on the highway near the lighthouse.

The moonrise tour occurs only during full moons. As you gathered from the post, it can be EXTREMELY windy: I highly recommend a hat, gloves, windproof jacket, and warm layers underneath. I wore all that, and was cold; many people on the trip reported being very, very cold. Docents report that it’s less windy in the fall. The park runs other tours that meet during the day; these apparently go through more of the buildings.

Old Point Loma Lighthouse pictures

California, Lighthouses, Photography, San Diego County

After taking pictures of pelicans at La Jolla this past January, Greg and I headed down to Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego to get pictures of Old Point Loma Lighthouse. I probably shouldn’t admit this, but the lighthouse was what I was really looking forward to when I woke up that day; birds and sunrises are fun and all, but I have a mild obsession with lighthouses1.

Old Point Loma Lighthouse stands on the top of a hill at the end of Point Loma, one of the peninsulas that shelter San Diego’s natural harbor.

Old Point Loma Light standing proud, seen end-on from the south on a sunny winter day. The light is in Cabrillo National Monument near San Diego, CA. Framing the lighthouse are three withered agave inflorescences along with fields of green bushes and trees. The assistant keeper's quarters are visible as a separate white building behind the inflorescences. (Marc C. Perkins)
Old Point Loma Lighthouse: From the south.

The two buildings visible in that image are the primary lighthouse (the multi-story painted brick building to the left) and the assistant keeper’s house (to the right).

The lighthouse and its tower are entrancing with their contrast and symmetry:

A somewhat cropped view of Old Point Loma Light as seen from the east on a crystal clear blue sky winter's day. The bright white painted brick building contrasts with the clear blue sky and black lantern room. The flagpole (currently lacking a flag) can be seen to the right of the house. The windows of the lighthouse are just barely visible at the bottom of the crop. While I generally prefer pictures of lighthouses either tightly cropped or whole with their surroundings3, I find this view of the house to be strangely entrancing. It seems to be standing alone in front of a clear blue sky; what's before it and behind it are unknown, open to the viewer to decide. (Marc C. Perkins)
Old Point Loma Lighthouse: From the East.

The lighthouse started operation in 1855 with a Fresnel lens; its light was visible more than 25 miles out to sea.  The lighthouse currently contains the Fresnel lens from the Mile Rocks lighthouse that was moved to the lighthouse in the 1980’s and installed with the light offset by a few inches (so it’s not nearly as powerful as it should be).

The lens and latern room are gorgeous up close:

A close-up view of the lantern room and its attached black-painted balcony seen from beneath. The lantern room appears to be towering above the viewer, and the details on the lantern room's green (copper?) roof are easily visible. For instance, the room can be seen to have lion or gargoyle figureheads at each of the room's 10 corners, and above each window is a cut-out pattern in the roof's edging of what look to be waves heading towards each other with the cutouts themselves appearing to be horns. A black ladder climbs to the top of the copper roof, reading the large dome on top. The white, black, and green building contrast beautifully with the dark blue sky. The lighthouse is in Cabrillo National Monument near San Diego, CA. I have another version of this same view that is less cropped, if you want. (Marc C. Perkins)
Old Point Loma's Lantern Room and Attached Balcony

I didn’t notice these fully while on the site, but when I processed the images I discovered that the edge of the tower’s roof is finished with beautiful details:

A highly-cropped detail view of my "Old Point Loma: towering lantern room" image. This crop shows the beautiful details of the construction of the lantern room's room, including lion or gargoyle figureheads at each of the roof's 10 corners, and a vertical cut-out portion of metal above each window. This cut out patterns appears to be made to look like a series of waves heading towards each other, with the cutouts themselves appearing to be horns. The lighthouse is in Cabrillo National Monument near San Diego, CA. As this is a severe crop, this image is not suitable to be printed exceptionally large (maybe up to 8 or 10" wide?), though the image it comes from can probably be printed up to 20"x30". (Marc C. Perkins)
Cropped detail view of "Old Point Loma's Lantern Room and Attached Balcony"

I love the cutouts on the roof’s edging, with their Escher-esque detailing. If you look at the metal itself, it’s cut into patterns of waves flowing into each other, yet if you look at the void spaces you can see either horns or birds (I see horns, Michelle sees birds). There are also gargoyles / lions at each corner of the roof. I wonder if these details are original, or a later addition.

Old Point Loma Light is in Cabrillo National Monument near San Diego, CA. This image is made from just south of the assistant keeper's house, showing the points of both the roofs of that building and the main lighthouse with its chimney. Behind these, standing tall, is the lantern room of the lighthouse, with its installed lens. The bright white buildings contrast with the clear blue sky and black lantern room. (Marc C. Perkins)
Old Point Loma Lighthouse: Angles

As the lighthouse is no longer a functioning navigational light (it was decommissioned in 1891 due to frequent interference from fog), it’s open daily for people to explore. While the latern room itself is sealed off, visitors can climb the staircase to nearly the top of the lighthouse tower (to where the window is in the “From the East” picture above). Climbing lighthouse stairways is just awesome, and this one had a little landing Greg and I could set up on to photograph the beautiful symmetry.

Lighthouse staircases are just plain awesome, and Old Point Loma Light's stairway in Cabrillo National Monument is no exception. Greg and I spent a good half hour up at the top trying various compositions, waiting for people to stop walking in, and admiring the Nautilus-like stairway. To bring out the textures and lines I prefer this in black and white, especially since the colors aren't particularly grabbing. (Marc C. Perkins)
Old Point Loma Lighthouse: Nautilus Stairway

That was one cramped little landing with all of our gear set up, and we both had to wait quite a while for an opportunity to capture images of the stairs with nobody else in the tower. But it was worth it, and how could one possibly mind spending time inside a lighthouse? 🙂

I’ll leave you with a final overview image, showing the lighthouse and it’s rebuilt concrete water-catchment basin with native plant landscaping:

A wide-angle view of Old Point Loma Light as seen from the east on a crystal clear blue sky winter's day. The foreground bushes mostly block the concrete water catchment basin. The lighthouse itself is clearly visible, as is the assistant keeper's house (to the left). Note: Please contact me if you're interested in purchasing this image for use printed or displayed large, as I should give you some background on the image (the sky has been burned to reduce uneven polarization, and it should be test-printed before final images are made). (Marc C. Perkins)
A wide-angle view of Old Point Loma Lighthouse and the assistant keeper's house.

Oh, and if you want to see the scale of the stairway in the tower, here’s a self portrait of me in the stairway:

I'm standing on the second level of the stairway to the top of the Old Point Loma Lighthouse in Cabrillo National Monument, waving up at the camera. Greg (of Alpenglow Images Photography) is nicely pressing the trigger of my tripod-mounted camera. (Marc C. Perkins)
Some photographer got in my shot, darn it!

Stay tuned for more lighthouse pictures!

1 This will hopefully be the inaugural post of a multi-post series highlighting lighthouses I’ve photographed in the past year. And don’t get me wrong – the pelicans at La Jolla Cove turned out to be awesome.

More pictures

To see more pictures from the lighthouse, head to my Old Point Loma Lighthouse Gallery or click on the thumbnails below.

A head-on look at the lantern room and lens of Old Point Loma Light, seen from the east. The window visible in the lantern tower is the one visitor's can look out when they climb the lighthouse stairs. The lighthouse's green (copper) roof is clearly visible, with its beautiful cut-out wave edging visible. The shingle roof of the lighthouse's main building is visible at the bottom of the picture. The lighthouse is in Cabrillo National Monument near San Diego, CA. (Marc C. Perkins) Old Point Loma Light is in Cabrillo National Monument near San Diego, CA. This close-up shot of the lantern room seen from the south shows the currently-installed third order lens (from the Mile Rocks Lighthouse, reportedly), black balcony and maintenance latter for the roof. The chimney of the lighthouse and roof of the assistant keeper's house can be seen in the foreground. (Marc C. Perkins)

Getting There

Cabrillo National Monument: Old Point Loma Lighthouse is in Cabrillo National Monument, which is at the end of Point Loma peninsula in San Diego, CA. The national monument’s webpage has an excellent directions page, including a great regional map. From interstate 5 you’ll need to take a few turns on city streets that aren’t necessarily well marked, so print out a good map or have your GPS handy. You’ll also be driving through an active naval base to arrive at the national monument, so park hours are strictly enforced. You’ll need to pay an entrance fee; parking was plentiful on site when we arrived on a winter weekday morning.