June 18, 2016
A Trip Around Angel Island
Weather = Sunny & warm
Lodging = Marin Hostel
Today we plan to visit 3 lighthouse sites on Angel Island.
We left the hostel about 8 a.m. and rode through Sausalito then around to Tiburon. We planned to catch the 10 a.m. ferry and got there just in time. The line to board was quite long so we worried that we would not board but we made it onto the ferry where there was standing room only. We just stood for the 15 minute ride to the island. The ferry was packed with weekend travelers, boy scouts and others going over to camp and day trippers such as ourselves, this made for a chaotic time disembarking with plenty of pushing and shoving to get off. Fun times for the cyclists.
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First stop was a visit to the US Immigration Station. Much the same as Ellis Island, immigrants from Asia, mainly Chinese and Japanese were stationed here when they first arrived in the country.
Angel Island has been used over the years by the military. Artillery Batteries were built for the Civil War and the island was used again during the 1st and 2nd World Wars as a staging area for solders leaving and as a discharge area upon there return. Lastly, there was a NIKE Missile site built during the Cold War. Fort McDowell had a museum showing the different time periods.
Angel Island has great views of the whole Bay Area and the San Francisco skyline.
Point Blunt:
In 1915 an unmanned lighthouse was built at Point Blunt as well as another light on Point Stuart. The keepers at Point Knox maintained the lights.
The wooden staircase down to the Point Knox light was deemed unsafe in the 1950's so the Coast Guard decided to build a new building at Point Blunt. Finished in 1961, the keepers moved from Point Knox over to Point Blunt.
The Point Blunt lighthouse was automated in 1976.
Point Knox:
A fog bell was placed here in 1886, with a light being added in 1900.
The wooden staircase down to the Point Knox light was deemed unsafe in the 1950's so the Coast Guard decided to build a new building at Point Blunt. Finished in 1961, the keepers moved from Point Knox over to Point Blunt.
In 1963 the Point Knox lighthouse was burnt down, leaving just the bell behind.
I found out later that if I had walked down the hill, you can see the old bell.
Point Stuart:
In 1915 an unmanned lighthouse was built at Point Stuart as well as another light on Point Blunt. The keepers at Point Knox maintained the lights.
A museum, located in the bachelor officers quarters for the former Quarantine Station at Ayala Cove, is now a park museum that has on display the lens from Southampton Shoal Lighthouse, which was located 1.6 miles northeast of the island.
Southampton Shoal is two-mile-long navigational hazard which lies along the eastern side of the shipping channel that runs between Richmond on the east, and Angel Island on the west.
The Southampton Shoal Lighthouse was in operation until 1960 when it was decided that the lighthouse was no longer needed. In 1966 the building was lifted off it's pilings and barged up the San Joaquin Delta to Tinsley Island where the St Francis Yacht Club use the building as an inn for their members.
A red light on a pole now marks the position.
On the way back, I had intended to stop for groceries, but it didn't take Cameron long to convince me to stop for pizza in Sausalito instead of cooking at the hostel.
After our pizza we shot down the hill to Fort Baker to take a look at the Lime Point Lighthouse. We stopped and got as close as we could.
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These are some photos from a boat trip I took on the bay in 2006.
As we had biked down to sea level, we had to get back up to the bridge, so instead of going all the way back through Fort Baker then down Alexandra Road, we biked up and under the Golden Gate Bridge. Unfortunately, this put us on the west side and we needed to be on the east side to head back to Marin. This meant unloaded the bags on the bike, going down a set of stairs onto a catwalk that ran under the bridge, then carrying the bikes and bags up the stairs on the other side. Thank goodness we were not fully loaded.
Then it was back through the tunnel and back to the hostel. We had a reasonably early night as we were both pretty tired.
Today's ride: 39 miles (63 km)
Total: 63 miles (101 km)
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