Spanish Bight Infilled: Connecting North Island to South Island

For centuries, Coronado and North Island were legally and physically distinct landmasses, separated by a shallow, tidal saltwater channel known as Spanish Bight. During high tides, waters from San Diego Bay rushed through the bight into the Pacific Ocean, requiring boats or wooden footbridges to cross between the two islands.

During World War II, the unprecedented expansion of Naval Air Station North Island created an urgent need for massive, continuous runways capable of handling heavy multi-engine patrol bombers, transport planes, and modern jet aircraft. In late 1944 and 1945, the Navy embarked on an enormous civil engineering project, dredging millions of cubic yards of sand and silt from San Diego Bay and depositing it directly into Spanish Bight.

By mid-1945, Spanish Bight was completely filled and paved over, permanently unifying North Island and Coronado into a single continuous peninsula. While the historic tidal waterway vanished from nautical charts, its memory is preserved in historic street names, geographic boundaries, and archival maps at the Coronado Historical Association.