Mysterious islands

Pirates, ghosts, gamblers and rumrunners spice up legend of tiny Coronados They are always present but often invisible. After the air has been scrubbed by wind or rain, though, travel to the San Diego-Coronado Bridge, the Cabrillo Monument or Mexico’s Highway 1 below Playas de Tijuana. Look out to sea. There they are, the Islas Coronados. But even after the mists part, these four rocky isles remain enshrouded in myth and mystery. They are so close – the nearest is only 14 miles from San Diego and eight miles from Tijuana – yet so obscure. Blame the marine haze or, if you ask Capt. Ben Griffith, sheer ignorance. “Most people in San Diego have never heard about these islands,” Griffith said as he sailed to the Coronados last week aboard the 105-foot Bright & Morning Star, bearing 33 voyagers on a nature cruise. “They have never been publicized very well.” Read the entire Union Tribune article here.