Faro Punta Tuna Manauabo

Punta Tuna Lighthouse

This lovely lighthouse stands on top of a small promontary that sticks out into the sea at the south-eastern point of the island.

The lighthouse has a small, one-story light-keeper’s house (similar to many others on the island), with 2 identical living quarters on each side, and a 49-foot octagonal tower in the center.

Once you arrive at the lighthouse, you park on the edge of the road, as parking is limited. Upon entering the facilities, you will find the office visitors, where you check in and get bilingual information from the lighthouse. On the second floor of this office, there is a museum. After visiting the museum, you hike a small hill that is decorated with palm groves, while enjoying a spectacular view towards Punta Tuna Beach. Upon reaching the top, you will find the lighthouse and one of the most beautiful views across Puerto Rico. On your left you will see the phenomenal beach coast and on your right, the waves crashing against huge mountains, finally, on the horizon, is the beautiful Island of Vieques. Since the lighthouse is still operational, you cannot enter. It is open every day from 9:30 to 3:30, entry is free and it has bathrooms.

Around 109 acres of diverse ecosystems surround the Punta Tuna lighthouse on the southeastern corner of Puerto Rico. Beaches, brackish, and sweet water wetlands and mangroves make up a fairly unique natural space, home to over 50 bird species.

Built in 1892 by the Spanish, the Punta Tuna lighthouse is still in use today. Most people go around the gate to access the lighthouse grounds and the beach below. The entrance to the lighthouse faces east and provides access to a vestibule off of which are found two symmetrical keepers quarters, one to the right and one to the left, and the stairs that lead up to the centrally positioned tower. Each keeper’s quarters consisted of a living room, two bedrooms, a kitchen/dining room, a bathroom, and a storeroom. Passageways flank both sides of the tower, with the one on the south leading to the storeroom, which connects to an oil room behind the tower. The hall on the north side of the tower leads to the engineer’s room.

Though the exterior of the tower is octagonal above the dwelling, inside the dwelling it has the form of a square with two clipped corners. A cast-iron circular stairway winds 14.5 meters up the tower and provides access to the lantern room, which is surrounded by a cement gallery and cast-iron balustrade. A third-order Fresnel lens, manufactured in France by Barbier, Benard & Cie. and equipped with two sets of double-flash panels, was mounted in the lantern room. A 200-lb weight, suspended in the central column of the stairway and attached to a clockwork mechanism, provided the force to revolve the lens and produce the light’s unique double-flash characteristic.

In 2009, Punta Tuna Lighthouse was offered to qualified government agencies and nonprofit organizations under the provisions of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act (NHLPA) of 2000, but this turned out to be premature as the property had not been excessed by the Coast Guard. Punta Tuna Lighthouse was again offered under the NHLPA in June 2011, and qualified entities were given sixty days to submit a letter of interest. On October 17, 2012, National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis announced that the lighthouse would be transferred to the Municipality of Maunabo.

Though the Fresnel lens remains in the lantern room, a modern beacon, powered by a set of solar panels, serves mariners today. The lighthouse grounds offer a spectacular view of the surrounding coastline.

This post was published on January 24, 2021. It was filed under: Nature & Sightseeing.