I photographed yesterday at Pigeon Point on my return trip from Monterey to San Francisco. While there I got to visit for a short time with Nelson Morosini the head docent and Mr Dauber (I hope I got that right and my apologies if I didn't!) from the Coast Guard facility at Oakland, CA. He was down to host a local reporter who wanted to do a story on the recent incident during which a 300# chunk of iron and associated brickwork separated from about 80 feet up on the seaward side of the tower.

THE NEWS!

International Chimney, the folks who moved the Cape Hatteras light, will be at Pigeon Point next week to inspect the damage to the tower. It seems that the CG is interested in getting the damage repaired so that the light can again be opened to allow tours of the fantastic first order Fresnel lens in the lantern room. No idea when that will occur, but at least that's good news and it's hopefully in the works. There is some chance that if there is nothing but external damage to the tower that tours can be started again sooner, rather than waiting for the repairs to be undertaken and completed, with the back of the lighthouse fenced off where the ironwork fell away, but there are no guarantees on this.

RELIGHTING

In speaking with Nelson, any of you who are in that area on Saturday, November 16th will be in for a wonderful treat... that's the date that this years lighting and rotation of the first order Fresnal lens will take place. If you've never seen this majestic site and can get there, you're in for a wonderful treat. If you'd like a preview, I did a photo piece on the Nov 2000 relighting that appeared in the January, 2001 issue of Lighthouse Digest. The URL will take you to that photo story if you're interested.

http://www.lhdepot.com/Digest/StoryPage.cfm?StoryKey=939

I'll keep in touch with Nelson and will let the folks here on the forum know what happens as all of this progresses and will follow this with some posts showing the damage when I get my slides back on Monday.

Gary

Could be good news. Lets hope so.Did you know Int. Chimney keeps getting all the credit for the Hatteras move, but they sub'd the work to Matyiko Bros."Expert House Movers",Sharptown,Md. This info is from the "Hatteras Monitor" June '99.Also, the Docent leading the tour at Pigeon when we were there told us the lens there was originally in Hatteras. Can anyone verify that?

Bud

OK, the USPS finally delivered my not so Express Mail package containing the last of my exposed film that I was trying to keep from the clutches of the airport security meanies and their X-ray machine. That said, I'll have my slides tomorrow that have the photos of the damage, so the pics showing that will be up tomorrow night.

Gary

Well, I didn't get around to scanning anything last night, but did this evening.

Looking across from a pull off just south of the loop leading back to Pigeon Point off Hwy 1, the view is really nice now that they've gotten ride of those hideous condos that a developer was building last year! When the land was acquired by a trust, the condos met a very timely demise ala bulldozer!



On the lighthouse grounds, a 6 foot chainlink fence surrounds the area immediately around the lighthouse.



Looking up from the seaward side of the grounds, you can see where a 300 pound piece of the ironwork and some of the brick fell away.




The cornice above the window also appears to have taken a bit of a hit when the ironwork was on its way down.



As I get any more information on the status of repairs at Pigeon Point, I'll certainly post updates here.

Here's another shot of Pigeon Point from a distance.



Gary

Outstanding pictures once again Gary. Glad to hear that something is actually being done to get this awsome light reopened. Sure hope they are done for the annual lighting. If there is any way I can swing it, I hope to be there this year. I love this light and I am realy excited to hear the condos are gone. Their placement when I was there made getting a good picture tough for my cheap point and shoot camera. Thanks for the great update.

Dale

Another pic of mine of Pigeon Point shot in November of 2000 about 20min after the sun had dropped below the horizon!

[img]http://www.shuttercity.com/public/lighthouse_photo/Pigeon%20Point%2C%20CA%20%2DAD%2Ejpg[/img]

For all of you lighthouse photo freaks, the following URL will take you to my gallery on Shutter City. There are about 80 or so photos parked out there in relatively large format (100-150 Kb each so downloads will be slow on a phone modem) most of them of lighthouses I've photographed scattered around the country.

http://www.shuttercity.com/ShowGallery.cfm?AcctID=3940

Gary

Gary, is that white dot in the middle a star or planet? Or is it just a missing pixel?

P.S. Your Point Reyes heron has replaced your sun pillar as my desktop wallpaper on a solid black background. It looks really sharp.

[This message has been edited by Larry (edited 04-30-2002).]

Hi Larry,

The white dot is the planet Venus.

Glad you like the shot of the heron. I think he's going to be going to some photo contests if the prints are sharp enough!

Gary

Are there any pigeons at Pigeon Point?

How many bags of Scotts Halt would it take to eliminate all those dandelions?

(Only kidding!)

Great photos, Gary! I really do like the the flowers in the foreground.

Bob

Hey Bob, if those were dandelions, I'm not sure there's enough Halt on the planet! And sorry, no pigeons there at Pigeon Point.

Gary

If my memory serves me, when I was there several summers ago, the docent told us that those fields near Pigeon Point was a crop of some kind. Can't remember the name, but that might explain the bloom. You have to admit it makes for a great photo.
Derith

Glad to see more of your usual great photography Gary some beautiful pictures.Bill O'Brien From Nova Scotia

I think Bill Taylor's going to be taking us to this one, so I hope to get some good shots of it to add to the numbers of lighthouses I've photographed.

------------------
Terry (Only my mother, brothers & sisters call me Teresa) Forrest

Terry,

Pigeon Point is definitely worth photographing. The print of mine that you have at dawn was shot from the north on the bluffs looking south toward the light. It's good to get there about an hour before the actual sunrise... the light as the sun rises toward daybreak can be spectacular (or really lousy if it's foggy!) For sunset, you've basically got two choices... either shooting from the grounds or over across Prisoner Rock from one of the pull offs from the highway. Right now, you'd probably do better from the highway as the chain link fence is probably still there.

A short photo story incorporating the pics from the beginning of this thread will be in LH Digest at some point.

Gary

The chain link fence IS still there, Gary. Bill and I photographed both Point Montara and Pigeon Point on Sat. evening, 6/1, the 1st full day we were in the SF area. Unfortunately that night as in earlier in the day, it was foggy, but it's still amazing what you can get with foggy shots. We also went to both places the following Sat. in the morning but not for sunrise and had great light. We wound up shooting some of Pigeon Point from approximately where you shot my favorite of this lighthouse. Have yet to scan any of them, but will post some when I do.

------------------
Terry (Only my mother, brothers & sisters call me Teresa) Forrest