Scuba diving Los Coronados Islands

Explorer Juan Cabrillo first described these islands in 1542 as "islas desiertas" (desert islands). In 1602, Vizcaino's priest named them Los Cuatro Coronados (the four crowns) to honor the four martyrs that fisherman saw amid the ancient rocks (Old Stone Face, The Sarcophagi, Dead Man's Island and Corpus Cristi). During the gold rush of the 1840's, high seas smugglers used the fog shrouded islands as a place to hide Chinese slaves bound for mining camps, before heading ashore. Later, hundereds of ships laden with treasures fell victim to the "Pirates of the Coronados" who made the islands their base of operations. The most bloodthirsty Gold Rush Pirate of Los Coronados was Jose Arvaez, called "The Pirate King". Nearly 400 hundred years after the islands' discovery, the first successful entrepreneurs arrived, during the Prohibition. Eventually, so many speedboats were rendezvousing among the foggy islands to pick up loads of Mexican rum, then trying to dodge the U.S. Coast Guard or outrun them in the dark, that Pirate Flagfatal fiery collisions occurred on a regular basis. Gambling and Hollywood followed the rumrunners. During the Great Depression, California lumber baron Fred Hamilton and Tijuana businessman Mariano Escobeda built a lavish restreat called Coronado Islands Yacht Club inside Smugglers Cove, but it was actually a cabaret casino frequented by Hollywood stars wanting to escape the public eye and by powerful producers holding tryouts for their hottest starlets. Errol Flynn, Al Capone and Harry Warner all made headlines with their adventures at the "Yacht Club". And perhaps because Hollywood had discovered Los Coronados for other reasons, the Pitcairn Island scenes from the movie "Mutiny on the Bounty" ended up being filmed at Coronado del sur. In 1935, Mexico's President, Lazardo Cardenas, abolished gambling in Mexico and the Yacht Club casino was abandoned. Things have been fairly quiet on Los Coronados since then. Only a lighthouse keeper and a Mexican Navy patrol crew live on the islands today. The Islands are now forbidden from anyone even stepping foot ashore.