Seamanship & Navigation,Featured
Icon on the Sound, West Point Lighthouse
January 31, 2023
The West Point Light has guided mariners in and out of Seattle since 1881. This small but stately beacon sits on a low sandy point at the northern entrance of Elliott Bay, overlooking the busiest vessel traffic in Washington…
Cruising Destinations,Featured
Beacon Background:Patos Island Lighthouse
November 29, 2022
Patos Island Lighthouse, 1915. Photo courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard. Boaters venturing north beyond the bustle of Friday Harbor, Roche Harbor, Deer Harbor, and other popular destinations in the San Juan archipelago will find a…
Bewitching Beacons of the Northwest Coast
October 24, 2022
Why do so many lighthouses inspire ghost stories? Often when I mention a beacon – particularly a coastal one – someone informs me that it’s haunted. “There’s a good ghost story at that lighthouse” offered a friend and…
Grays Harbor Lighthouse:The Tallest of them All
September 22, 2022
Grays Harbor Lighthouse, 1959. Photo courtesy of Washington State Archives. This beacon might be the most remarkable in Washington. Part of a chain of lighthouses spanning the Washington coast, it is the state’s tallest,…
Cruising Destinations,Featured
Beacon Background:
Sentinels of San Juan Island
August 23, 2022
San Juan Island offers two distinctive beacons in two unique settings. Both reflect the ongoing story of mariners in the Salish Sea. When you are cruising in the area this summer, they are worth checking out by water and by…
Seamanship & Navigation,Featured
Beacon Background: Point Wilson Lighthouse
July 19, 2022
The Point Wilson Lighthouse in 1960. Photo courtesy of Washington State Archives. It is hard to imagine a more scenic location for a lighthouse than Point Wilson. Marking the convergence of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and…
Seamanship & Navigation,Featured
Beacon Background: Alki Point Lighthouse
May 12, 2022
Explore the history of the iconic lighthouse that has been guiding mariners through Puget Sound for more than 100 years. The following article originally appeared in the May 2022 issue of 48° North. Seattle is a city best…
Seamanship & Navigation,Featured
Beacon Background: The Heceta Head Lighthouse
March 22, 2022
If you see one lighthouse in Oregon, let it be the beacon at Heceta Head. For more than a century, mariners have relied on its light for safe passage along Oregon’s central coast. This is a seascape dotted with rocky islands…
Beacon Background: The Admiralty Head Lighthouse
January 4, 2022
This article was originally published in the January 2022 issue of 48° North. When cruising north from Seattle, I always look for the Admiralty Head Lighthouse. There, on a windswept bluff on the west side of Whidbey Island,…
Beacon Background: The North Head Lighthouse
November 2, 2021
This article was originally published in the November 2021 issue of 48° North North Head is a perfect example of an iconic lighthouse. Rugged and isolated setting? Check. White tower overlooking an endless expanse of ocean?…