Sam and Barbara Dawson use binoculars to get close-up views of whales and seals as they swim by just offshore. Dick and Mary Beatty prefer to get up-close and personal with schools of multicolored fish while they snorkel and scuba dive. For Tom and Jean Coss, the big thrill is hobnobbing with a friendly ghost named Maggie.
As disparate as these experiences may seem, they share a common trait. All three couples are overnighting in a lighthouse that was constructed long ago to help ships avoid dangerous hazards and guide them safely into harbors.
Various forms of ship warning lights were first used thousands of years ago. Some geologists believe that a platform excavated along the coastline of India, which they date to about 2,000 B.C., supported a fire to mark the entrance to a port. A similar structure indicated the harbor of Piraeus in Athens in the fifth century B.C….