When have you visited a lighthouse? Several years ago my wife and I attempted to visit Cape Ann Me. When we got to the area the fog was so thick that when I got out of the car I could not see where the light house was. There was no sign giving directs. All I could hear was the fog horn. It made no sense to try to find the lighthuose as a picture would have been impossible. Did I real visit the lighthouse since I heard the horn?
Art

Is this one of those philosophical questions like "If a tree fails in the woods but no one is there to hear it, does it still make a noise?", or

"If a man makes a statement and a woman is not there to correct him, is he still wrong?"

For me, I would have had to visualized the lighthouse to count it and check it off as being "seen." So it gives you an excuse to go back some other time. However, If you're a foghorn enthusiast, you can certainly check that one off as being "heard."

I also only count a lighthouse when I have seen it... sometimes it is just through my windshield or through my binoculars when standing on the shore. So I don't necessarily have to have been standing by it or close to it.

I have seen some lighthouses as I have been on planes that have flown over lighthouses as we have been landing (jets, not those that are flying over lighthouses for folks to see). I don't count those seen from jet windows.

I have two books (the Penrod Michigan book is one) that I keep track of my lighthouses with checkmarks and dates seen. However, as I have found, everyone has their own method of counting how many lighthouses they have seen. So I think you have to figure out your rules for counting and stick to them - whether seen, heard, or how close you are, it's your choice.

Good luck!

I only count those Stan or I have taken pictures of and then only once. Even with thick fog surrounding West Quoddy Head, the first picture in my photo album of that light is viewable--and, therefore, countable. We did return and have better pictures and I didn't count that lighthouse again.

We tried to see Petit Manan Light in Maine a couple of years ago and trekked the 1-1/2 miles to the edge of the plot of land we were walking on, following the sound of the foghorn. When we could walk no further, we could not see the lighthouse and the sound of the foghorn made it seem like we could have extended our arm and touched it in the dense fog. We took a flight
over it a year or so later and determined we would not have been able to see the light from where we were when we thought we were walking toward it. It was located on the far side of an island and would have been obscured from sight. The distance from which the foghorn can be heard is much farther than the distance from which the light itself can be seen.

Sandy

When we were in Ireland this summer our bus driver pulled up across from our first lighthouse and
after we took a few pictures he asked where too now. We all stated that we wanted to get out of the bus and get closer to the light. He was a little surprised and after finding a parking spot asked "is this some kind of masonic thing where you have to go and touch the light?" We simply said "yes." As far as myself I count a light if I have seen it with my own 2 eyes, or with the zoom of my camera.