Post Your Lighthouses!

[greatgrandma]

We saw Tarbert lighthouse from many angles when we took the ferry across the Shannon Estuary. It is on the south (County Kerry) side of the estuary just north of Tarbert. This is the Tarbert Light (built in 1834) which is a harbour light to guide vessels passing up or down the Shannon estuary, it helps to clear the Bowline Rock and also guides vessels into the Tarbert Roads anchorage.We saw this lighthouse from many angles when we took the ferry across the Shannon Estuary. It is on the south (County Kerry) side of the estuary just north of Tarbert. Built in 1834, the Tarbert Light is an active lighthouse.

The Light at the Ferry


There is a cast iron bridge, built about 1840, connects the tower to shore, which we saw when we passed it. The lighthouse is a round limestone tower with lantern and gallery, painted white, with a white light. A red light shows to the west over Bowline Rock. The keepers house has apparently been demolished. It was formally transferred to the Limerick Harbour Commissioners in 1981, but CIL has a buoy depot nearby so it is convenient for the same attendant to manage both facilities The lighthouse is built on a tidal rock off the north side of Tarbert Island.

Approaching Tarbert Light


It is a 74 ft round limestone tower with lantern and gallery, painted white. A spidery cast iron bridge, built about 1840, connects the tower to shore. Keeper's house has apparently been demolished. The lighthouse is now dwarfed by the huge smokestacks of an electric power generating plant built immediately behind it. There are good views from the ferry.

Lighthouse

Ferry control room

Lighthouse close-up from the ferry

 

[greatgrandma]

In 1964, I was in Marseilles, transiting by boat back and forth to the aircraft carrier that my husband was serving on. So I have various photos of the waterfront, lighthouses and aids to navigation. I have identified two photos of Fort Saint-Jean, a 1644 lighthouse which was inactive even when I saw it.

Fort Saint-Jean

It was built by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem by the order of Louis XIV as a watch tower. It is on the quay south of the Passe de la Joliette.

Distant view of Fort Saint-Jean

Feu de Sainte-Marie, Marseille

And I have a photo of Feu de Sainte-Marie a lighthouse from 1855 which is floodlit at night although it is inactive. This is a round stone tower

Tourelle du Canoubier

But the black and white lighthouse above has been more of a problem. I think this is Tourelle du Canoubier, which is now yellow and black. The top of the tower is rounded and carries a black double-diamond daymark on a short mast. This is the oldest French beacon to be built at sea on an underwater foundation. It is located about 180 m (600 ft) southwest of the Feu de Sourdaras, off the Pointe d'Endoume;

 

[greatgrandma]

In 1998, I went to Cozumel to dive and so that Bob could get certified in SCUBA.

In the evening we would walk around town and eat at one of the restaurants. We walked out past the Punta Langosta lighthouse one night and ate at the Barracuda hotel.

Lighthouse in 1998

The Punta Langosta station was established in 1906, but the date that the lighthouse was built is unknown. The focal plane was 56 ft; white flash every 5 s. It is a 49 ft cylindrical concrete tower with lantern and two galleries, painted white. It was deactivated in 2000

In 2007 we were in Cozumel on a cruise ship. The old lighthouse was now in the center of the shopping area near the pier.

Old lighthouse lighted by the sun
I gather it is no longer active, as I can't see any light or structure in it and there is now a big building between it and the water.

Base of the lighthouse in the marketplace

We drove out a fairly good highway past the lighthouse that replaced the old one

Punta Ealetita Lighthouse

 

[greatgrandma]

We continued south in Cozumel to the Reserva Ecologica Parque Punta Sur. This is a turtle nesting area and a marine sanctuary which has salt water crocodiles and a lighthouse with a 'Navigation Museum' in the Punta Celarain lighthouse

Punta Celarain lighthouse

I did not climb the lighthouse although we could have done that.

People at the top of the lighthouse

Model in the museum

 

[greatgrandma]

Chasing down the Hillsboro Inlet light
we saw the lighthouse ahead of us in the distance

Lighthouse ahead

On our first venture down the ICW, we went out through the Hillsboro Inlet bridge by mistake.

This is what I wrote at the time of that first trip.
Disaster day - we only have 5 more bridges to do --- except that I mistake the first bridge and we go out the Hillsboro Inlet bridge instead of the 14ths St. bridge. Luckily the bridge tender put the bridge back up and let us back through

The reason we were so afraid to actually go out this inlet is that the inlet has a well deserved reputation for chewing up boats and spitting them out on the rocks. I hadn't really given the lighthouse much of a glance - I was too busy looking at the rocks. And after that, the only time we saw this lighthouse was from out in the ocean as we went offshore from Miami to Fort Pierce

Hillsboro Lighthouse from the Atlantic

I knew where the inlet was on the charts, but I could not figure out from the internet exactly where I could go to see it. One of the sites gave places along the road to the south of the inlet where he said views could be had, but that area was completely built up. We drove down US A1A and across the drawbridge and the whole length of the road and back without finding any place that looked like we could get to the coastline without going across someone's property. On the way back we almost ran into Hillsboro Inlet Park. This park had free parking, playground equipment, benches and people (and some birds) were fishing from beside the inlet, and it also had a really good view of the Hillsboro Inlet bridge. And of course it was a good vantage point to take pictures of the lighthouse.

The timeline for the lighthouse goes as follows:

• 1906—lighthouse completed in Detroit. Shipped via Lake Erie, Lake Michigan, Illinois and Mississippi River, Gulf Mexico, & Key West. 4,000 Nautical-Mile trip. Meanwhile, J.H. Gardner Construction Co. of New Orleans gets awarded the contract for clearing the land/laying foundation/re-assembling and erection, cost $16,792.
• 1907—March 07. Lighthouse is placed into service

Closeups

Close-up of the light

 

[greatgrandma]

This is a dangerous inlet in some weathers. A half dozen boaters die each year using South Florida Inlets.The Hillsboro Inlet requires skill and some local knowledge. Strong currents and shoaling (in the inlets and just beyond the jetties) are common Florida inlet dangers.

Tip: When using an inlet, wait for a locally-based boat that is larger that your boat. Follow that bigger boat at a safe distance. This will help you avoid shoaling and dangerous currents. Watch for shoaling near the Light (to the north side, just outside the jetty.) The inlet is reasonably wide and navigable.

Hillsboro Inlet

Sea Tow boat waiting to rescue someone
Because of shoaling, the inlet has to be constantly dredged, so there is a little barge that pumps the sand and some floating pipes right at the entrance.

Dredge, lighthouse and a power boat

It is a tricky inlet in some conditions such as an opposing tide and wind which makes really steep short waves. It can be difficult to control a boat under such circumstances and sailboats which are often large heavy boats with a relatively tiny motor have more difficulty than power boats with their larger engine to boat ratio.

I took a series of pictures of a large cruising sailboat which was going out the inlet when the wind was from the east blowing into the inlet, and the tide was going out against the wind.

Sailboat approaching the inlet

Tide going out against wind from the east - Sailboat wallowing in the short steep waves

Dredge and sailboat successfully outside the inlet

 

[greatgrandma]

We visited St Barts for the first time in 2013 and rented a car. We didn't give this lighthouse the attention that we usually give lighthouses,

Gustavia Lighthouse with no parking sign

but we could see it from almost anywhere in town.

From the streets of town

It is located atop a hill at the site of historic Fort Gustave overlooking Gustavia harbor on the west side of the island of St.-Barthélemy. It is not an old lighthouse as it was built in 1961 but it is an active lighthouse - a round conical tower painted white with a single red band at the top. The lantern has been removed and is on display at the Musée Municipal de St.-Barthélemy in Gustavia.

The next time we visited was 2018 and we hired a driver

Lighthouse from town

Lighthouse

He took us up by the lighthouse, but it was closed due to hurricane damage, and he said we could look at the fort, but it was the police station, so if I wanted to go in, I'd have to do something bad.

 

[Stiga]

The square lighthouse near Newton Stewart SW Scotland

 

[Macstory]

Mevagissey Lighthouse. Cornwall.
(Lens: Tamron SP 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di VC USD <> Camera ID: Canon EOS 7D Mark II).

 

[greatgrandma]

Another Chesapeake Lighthouse - Sandy Point Shoal Light is a brick three story lighthouse on a caisson foundation that was erected in 1883. It lies about 0.6 mi off Sandy Point, north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge,

I've only seen this lighthouse from a boat and have few photos of it because it is in the north Bay