Experience Yachting in California Cruising out of San Diego to the Coronado Islands on a boat

Experience Yachting in Southern California Cruising out of the San Diego, Bay to the Coronado Islands. About 15 miles off the coast of San Diego are 4 small islands called the Coronado's. Coronado Islands, or Islas Coronado, are a group of 4 islands off the northwest coast of Baja California. The islands lie about 18 miles from San Diego and only 7 miles from Tijuana, allowing you to see them from the beach or while driving down the coastal toll road. The islands are largely uninhabited by humans but overflowing with diverse wildlife. The Coronado Islands are actually a Mexican wildlife refuge full of sea lions, elephant seals, gulls, pelicans, rattlesnakes and more. Each of the 4 islands goes by a different name: North Coronado, Pilón de Azúcar (Pile of Sugar), Central Coronado, and South Coronado. North Coronado has a jetty, and visitors are welcome to anchor on the east side of it. Pilón de Azúcar and Central Coronado are the smallest islands, sitting between the North and South. Which leaves us with South Coronado, the largest and arguably the most popular island. The South island contains two lighthouses and contains the only bay of all the islands, Puerto Cava. If you're interested in exploring Islas Coronado, there are a few things you should know. Visitors traveling to Islas Coronado may anchor their boats to swim, snorkel or fish, but stepping foot on the island is strictly prohibited. If you don't have a boat of your own, there are a few companies on both sides of the border in San Diego and Tijuana/Rosarito that offer full-day boat charters to the Coronado Islands. These tours offer snorkeling and diving as well as fishing, which is quite popular around the perimeter of the islands. Yellowtail is a popular catch amongst anglers here. History of the Coronado Islands Easily spotted on a clear day from the tip of Point Loma, the Coronado Islands (Islas Coronados) are only 15 miles away ? a familiar sight to local residents, though many tourists have probably never heard of them.Ahhh ? so close, but so far. The Coronado Islands actually belong to Mexico and are a part of the municipality of Tijuana, State of Baja California Norte. From land, it is difficult to make out the four infertile islands that are mainly uninhabited except for a small military detachment. The North Coronado Islands has no bay, but boats can anchor on a jetty on the eastern side. It is very hard to land on Pilón de Azúcar (Pile of Sugar). It has little vegetation, but a flock of birds rests there. Central Coronado has a rocky peak with a heap of cactus and scrubs near the summit and South Coronado has the only bay on the islands, called Puerto Cueva (Cave Port), as well as a lighthouse on each extreme. Their recorded history reaches back to September, 1542, when Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo first described them as islas desiertas (desert islands). Sixty years later, in 1602, Sebastián Vizcaíno christened them Los Cuatro Coronados (the four crowned ones) to honor four martyrs.South Coronado Island, two-miles long and a half-mile wide, is the largest of the chain and was the focus of many tales and myths swirling around the area. Pirates did stop by, and one old legend has it that a pirate named Jose Arvaez used the bay, later called Pirates' Cove and Smugglers' Cove, as a base of operations. Allegedly he killed the crew of a British ship, the "Chelsea," but he and his men were caught when they returned to their cove and were hanged from the yardarm of their own schooner. Nearly a century and a half later, the tale became the plot for a musical, "Pirates of Point Loma" by Welton Jones and Markuz Rodriguez. However, on further investigation, it was discovered in the 1950s, maritime historian John Lyman, while searching the 19th-century ships' registers, was unable to find the Chelsea or the Grendo. Moreover, contemporary journals from the 1850s didn't mention either Arvaez or Bolter, which led him to declare that "Pirates of Point Loma" was a tall tale about tall ships and was a myth ? a fitting preamble to the rich stories that make up the history of these fabled Coronado Islands. As World War II was winding down in 1945, sportfishing was just finding it's footing in San Diego. In addition to the local half-day trips to the kelp beds, the Coronado Islands, teeming with sea life, became a popular fishing hole.