This aerial photo shows Bolinas Lagoon and the Olema Valley, formed by the San Andreas Fault. Bolinas Ridge is on the right. This photograph captures how the area once was. The great sand spit, on the Stinson Beach side, is still empty of structures and wild. There are no trees on Kent Island. A large channel can be seen through the wetland, and there is no extending delta from Pine Gulch Creek.
This image was taken during World War II when the United States Coast Guard regularly patrolled the coastline by air. They also patrolled by water from the busy Coast Guard station on Wharf Road in Bolinas.