[Leica] Point Bonita Moonlight Walk

["Peter Choy" <pmcchoy@earthlink.net>]

BALUG

This evening's full moon walk at Point Bonita turned out to be a combination
sunset/moonrise over the Marin Headlands.  The weather was perfect -- the
air was calm, the bay and ocean were placid and there was no onshore fog.
The sun setting into the Pacific was superb, surpassed only by a gorgeous
full moon rising over San Francisco.  The lighthouse itself, one of the two
earliest on the West Coast, guards the entrance to San Francisco Bay.
After a steep drive down from Hawk Hill, a thermal landmark for migratory
birds and the raptors that prey upon them, one approaches the lighthouse on
foot through a tunnel excavated by hand through the outcrop and then over a
painted white wooden suspension bridge, capacity limited to 5 persons at a
time.  The light was in operation and we were able to walk 360 degrees
around it as well as go inside.   From the lighthouse bridge approach one
could catch the reflection of the full moon on the smooth waters of the
Golden Gate just outside the GG Bridge -- forgive me for saying so, but it
was a true "Noctilux moment".

The BALUG were there in full force, and including Ken Iisaka and family, Tom
Schofield and his wife Pam, Roland Smith and his wife Georgia, and my
daughter and I.   All were armed with Leicas and Gitzos, except Roland also
brought his Rolleiflex TLR and my daughter her trusty OM2n.

Many thanks to Ken for bringing this event to our attention and organizing
this memorable excursion!  The lighthouse is open to the public three
afternoons a week, Sunday-Monday-Tuesday, from 1:30 - 3:30, but evenings
only once a month, on or about the full moon.  The National Park Service has
details.

rgds,
Peter Choy.