Here are some photos from my May 13-17 trip to the San Francisco Bay area:


Fort Point viewed from the Entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge is undergoing lead paint abatement and retrofitting for earthquakes.


A telephoto view from the same point.


Lime Kiln Lighthouse near the base of the bridge on the Marin County side.



Alcatraz Island viewed from the bridge entrance.


The Lightship RELIEF is on display at Jack London Square in Oakland.

Hi John!

I really enjoyed the pictures.
I'm going to the west coast on July 4th with the
Tampa Bay Harbour Lights Club for a two week tour.
We will see forty lighthouses and I can't wait!
What kind of camera did you use? Your pictures
are great!

Thanks John for sharing your photos with us. Makes July 4th seem like a long time away. But, only 46 days before we leave.

Glad you were able to do some lighthousing while you were on your working trip. See you in a couple of weeks in Grand Rapids. Will I recognize you?
Derith

Derith - you can skip the trip down to Fort Point. The Fort is not open and there is a National Guardsman there with an M-16. You can't see the lighthouse from the water's edge. You can view it from the bridge viewing area.

Glad you got some lighthousing in John! So are we going to get an Alcatraz or other SF/Oakland area LH pc?
Bob

I could be wrong, but wasn't the Alcatraz light destroyed when the Indian protesters occupied the island back in the sixties? Wow, that sounds wierd...
If anyone can fill us in, I'd appreciate it.

Bob - See my photo of RELIEF Lightship above. That's about it. I didn't have the time to search for the best places from which to shoot Yerba Buena, East Brother, etc. And I didn't make the trip out to Alcatraz Island.

Mike,

You could be right, but your not.

There was a fire during the Occupation of Alcatraz, but it did not destroy the Lighthouse. It did however destroy 4 of the buildings on the Island and scorched the Lighthouse.

The Keeper's House was one of those buildings along with the Warden's House. I'm not sure of the identity of the other two.

The original Lighthouse (which was basically the same as Point Pinos, Crescent City and several others on the CA coast) was dismantled in 1909 when the Prison was built on Alcatraz and the present Lighthouse was built just outside the prison walls.

Dennis

Great pictures, John! I am hoping to get out there this summer!

Good pictures John. It is good to see the Relief Lightship that you took as that was the Overfalls Lightship back in the 50s when I was stationed on it. It was later sent to the west coast as the Blunt's Reef Lightship and later was changed to the Relief Lightship before it was decomissioned. Hal

I wish I had been able to get out on the water to take a better picture of it for you, Hal.

Must be lots of nostalgia there for you.

My wife just let me know that business will take her to San Francisco in August. With hotel and car at business expense maybe the kids and I can tag along. Since our (my) appetite is now wheted for a SF Bay lighthouse tour, maybe we can get some more pics for us.