Twenty-one miles south of Carmel on Route 1, drivers will spot a very large rock. It is barely joined to the land by a sandy stretch. Its summit is covered in a handful of buildings, barely visible in the mist. The only entrance from the highway is heavily fenced. For that matter, so is the beach around it, with signs proclaiming it private property.

At first glance, it seems the perfect lair for a Bond villain.

But this is no movie set, it’s something even better: Point Sur State Historic Park , and it includes shipwreck-causing waters, a haunted lighthouse, and a long history of Cold War espionage.

Lighthouse station

California’s Central Coast may no longer have active volcanoes, but there is plenty of evidence of ancient volcanic activity, from plugs like Morro Rock (the hardened

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