Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma in San Diego commemorates the conquistador and explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo and his 1542 journey up the California coast. This national park provides a great spot from which to take in the City of San Diego and the beauty of the Pacific Ocean. The Coronado Islands, mountains, and the sea lie beneath your eyes, seducing you to linger on the refurbished first floor of the lighthouse, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, made of local sandstone and featuring floor tiles taken from the ruins of an old Spanish fort.
Once you’ve seen the panorama of the coast and the nearby urban world,
descend to the water’s edge and get a close-up view of a tidepool. In
autumn and winter, tide levels drop, offering a peek at anemones, sea
stars, and other inhabitants of the ocean’s rocky intertidal zone. Rangers
can take you on guided walks if you wish.
From late December until early March, you can glimpse Pacific gray whales
whose annual migration route passes the park. The whales travel from the
Arctic to Baja California, where they mate and give birth in the warm
waters. The shiny, knuckled back of a gray whale may appear as the animal
breathes out warm, moist air that interacts with cool air at the ocean’s
surface to form a bushy column called a blow or spout. You might see a
whale display its flukes, or tail, before it dives or even see it
breach—throw its body out of the water and return with a terrific splash.
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