Trying to discover history on certain things in Mexico is like trying to get that lime to pop out of an empty bottle of beer. It’s dang hard! The origin of the small lighthouse at the tip of Pelican Point in the community of Cholla Bay has been a chore to find answers too.

Very few people know it exists. It’s small. It’s short. It’s not that bright of a light beam, but it is there and it does shine light.

It cannot be used as a landmark for directions like most lighthouses. If you were to describe directions on how to get to Tucson Beach in Cholla Bay by using the location of the lighthouse most of your guests will be lost and cussing you out at JJ’s later when you hunt them down.

When you finally point the lighthouse out to them, they say, “That’s a Lighthouse?” “Oh, I thought you meant a real lighthouse.”

Let me tell you folks, that lighthouse is real. It produces a Bigizawatt (metric for watts, I think?) of light to the Sea of Cortez. And…since everything in metric is tiny, then yes, it produces a tiny bit of light, just enough for the fisherman in their small tiny panga boats to find their way back to Cholla Bay.

Over the years a few improvements have been made.

Recently, the solar power cells were updated and a photovoltaic cell was installed with a light sensor so the light will power on only in darkness. Before this, the light operated 24 hours a day.

There was a shield placed on the land side of the beacon so the light didn’t shine through the windows of the nearby neighbors abodes.

Still, there were questions yet to be answered. Who maintains the lighthouse? Who flips the expense? Who originally built the lighthouse? And…How many people have been saved by the lighthouse rays of light that project out to sea?

Like all things in Mexico, no one knows, but life goes on. And, the ray of light projecting out from Pelican Point goes on every day like clockwork just like the master beam of light that hits us every day at Sunset from the West. The cool thing about this beam of light…No matter where you stand on the shores of Pelican Point, the sun’s rays shine directly toward you like dueling Star Wars light sabers intertwined with our Little Lighthouse in Cholla Bay.

Go to “Wild West Images – Photography by Steve Franklin” on Facebook for more Rocky Point Photography of the lighthouse.