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The Punta Borinquen lighthouse was built by the Spanish colonial government and first lit on September 15, 1889, one of a series of lighthouses erected around Puerto Rico to guide ships along the island's coast. The structure combined an octagonal stone-and-brick tower with an attached thirteen-room keepers' dwelling, painted red with white trim. Its fourth-order Fresnel lens projected a beam from a focal plane roughly 65 feet above the sea, visible some 24 nautical miles offshore. After the Panama Canal opened in 1914, the lighthouse gained added importance as a key aid to navigation on the shipping route between Europe and Panama. In 1918, a major earthquake and the tsunami that followed struck western Puerto Rico, damaging the tower beyond repair. Only two brick walls, the concrete floor, and part of the foundation remain today. The U.S. government funded a replacement lighthouse on higher ground nearby, completed in 1922; automated in 1976, it remains an active aid to navigation. The original ruins, now on the grounds of the former Ramey Air Force Base, are a protected historic site and a popular stop for visitors exploring the coast.
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An overlook on the Punta Borinquen bluffs with panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean and Aguadilla's northwestern coast. A good rest stop for spotting seabirds and, in the waters offshore, sea turtles over the coral reefs.
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