Beacon of Light to Pierce the Gloom

Point Fermin Lighthouse in San Pedro, built in 1874

Although the sky was leaden, I went to visit a couple of the local lighthouses, Point Fermin in San Pedro and Point Vicente in Palos Verdes. From these locations the view of the Pacific Ocean is especially dramatic, seen from high upon the bluffs with Catalina Island in the distance.

At Point Fermin, I was able to enjoy a tour of the building, learning about the site's history. Walking among the antique furnishings and looking at the old photographs, it was interesting to think of life back in those days, before the Los Angeles region had been developed, when it was a rough frontier town. Without our modern irrigation bringing greenery to this prominence, the cliffs would have been a barren and forlorn place in which the keeper's family would have lived in near isolation.

A view over the Point Fermin bluffs down at the Pacific Ocean

On the other side of the peninsula, at Point Vicente, there was no tour of the lighthouse, which was built in 1926, an era with a larger population and much improved communication and transportation technologies, making life as a lighthouse keeper a little less lonely. However, the nearby Interpretive Center was very active with whale watchers, seeking to spy a few of these leviathans on their migration down the California coast.

I saw no whales during my visit, but the playful antics of some dolphins made for fun viewing.

Point Vicente Lighthouse in Palos Verdes, built in 1926

The weather matched my mood, but keeping busy, appreciating tales of times long gone and enjoying the natural wonders, lightened my disposition. Now, the grey clouds of unhappiness are still weighing down upon me, but maintaining an active mind and seeking out activities to engage my imagination will lead me through the gloom.

Dialogue between Wind and Waves

Point Vicente Lighthouse


Jutting into the Pacific Ocean, the Palos Verdes peninsula reaches its southwestern limit at Point Vicente, where the old lighthouse looms along the bluffs.

On a clear day, the view is gorgeous, the Pacific stretching out without end beyond the horizon, punctuated only slightly by the isle of Santa Catalina across the channel. But on a gray day like this, the dark sea merges into the leaden sky, and you feel as though you are standing at the World's End, only mist and darkness extending forever into a formless void. The waves murmur over one hundred feet below, an anxious chorus that echo across this forlorn scene.

It is on a day like this that you expect to witness the "Lady of the Light" strolling along the cliffs. Yes, true to type, the Point Vicente lighthouse is rumored to be haunted. But it's only a trick of the light. ;-)

Point Vicente was named in 1790 by Captain George Vancouver

Tearing myself away from morbid fantasies, I turned to the Point Vicente Interpretive Center to see the teaching facilities for marine biology.