Description
In the Gulf of the Farallones and the Pacific Ocean, west of San Francisco. (US-T121)
History
Sebastian Vizcaino, Spanish explorer, named these islands Los Frayles or "the friars," when he visited them in 1602. Juan Francisco de Bodega y Cuadra, another Spanish explorer, in 1775 renamed the islands Farallones de los Frayles or "cliffs of the friars." The present name is an Americanized contraction of Bodega's appellation (US-T121). Farallon means needle or small pointed island (US-T121/Steel File).