lighthouse

Tom’s got something to say

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Guest Blog

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I thought Lynne’s readers might enjoy learning more about the Deal Island lighthouse.

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Unlike the other lighthouses where we’ve served as caretakers—5 Finger, Alaska; Seguin, Maine; Bakers, Mass.—the lighthouse is 2.5 miles away from our house. It’s also 700 feet up and a total of almost 1,000 feet above sea level.

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Needless to say, we don’t go up every day. When visitors to the island wish to see the lighthouse, we hand them the key and wish them a good time.

The light is no longer functional and has been replaced by automated lights on 2 small, neighboring islands. Supposedly, the lighthouse was decommissioned because, being so high, it was obscured in clouds half the time. Well, that’s from the perspective of Wilson’s Promontory on the mainland, 43 miles away. Duh. In the almost 6 months total we’ve spent here, it’s been covered a handful of times. I’m sure the reason it was replaced had more to do with money. There is no place for a helicopter to land near the lighthouse and we’re in the middle of Bass Straight.

The tower houses a gorgeous first order Fresnel lens, not unlike the beauty on Seguin Island. Visitors are allowed to get up close to it, even walk inside. Unfortunately, the building is suffering. There have been a couple of major fires on the island which reached the lighthouse and cracked the exterior walls. It blows like crazy up there and these cracks allow moisture in the walls and now small pieces are starting to fall out. Grants to repair the lighthouse have so far been unsuccessful. At least, the temperature doesn’t go below freezing or it would be a pile of rubble!

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I’m not at home until I’ve waxed the floors

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It’s true. On my hands and knees. My kids will tell you how treacherous life was after I applied butcher’s wax to our wood floors. A brief walk in socks could send you flying.

Same is true here on Deal Island. What struck me the first time we were here was how the floors shined. They were clean this visit but not gleaming. While Tim was off clearing nasty nettles off the track to Winter Cove, I got busy.

First I washed and stripped, the floors. I looked forward to using the 1950’s era home floor polisher again. Just like the ones used in commercial spaces but smaller, and fun!

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Then I applied two coats of wax. Now I can call the Caretaker’s house home.

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We had some fair weather and aired the lighthouse and buildings. I took some nice shots of the living compound during our walk.

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We stay in the group of buildings in the distance, to the right of center. It’s about a 40 minute walk to the lighthouse from there.

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Today there’s a gale wind from the northwest. I’ve done the best I could to protect the plants in the garden. Time will tell.

Armed

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One laceweight sleeve completed for my sweater, one to go. It was a handy project to knit while sailing because the yarn was so light it floated in the breeze and showed the wind direction.

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This poor little lighthouse, Cedar Point, in East Hampton, one of the wealthiest communities in the country, lost its tower and doesn’t have the money for repairs. Tsk, tsk.

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Island crafts

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It’s another beautiful fall day, 50’s and breezy. A great day to be stuck on an island.

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No visitors or crickets yesterday but a couple of float planes passed overhead.

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I wandered through the museum and thought about how keepers and their families spent their time. Just like me, there was food preparation, although they had a barn, animals and a garden. And down time to pursue hobbies, fiber and otherwise.

This linen is displayed in the museum. The center panel was taken from a linen cover, which protected the lens and oil during the day. Mrs. DeShon crocheted the lace around it in the 1940’s.

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This quilted panel was donated by local ladies. It’s hard to see but there’s a lighthouse in the stitching.

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Dorothy Hart made this trolly in the 1950’s from scrap material and used it as a planter.

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I frequently scrounge around looking for things to improvise since we never have exactly what you need. Here’s my weed snipper strap.

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And a mat from old rope.

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And my swift and nostespinne.
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My food requires some improvising too. For the first time ever, the cupboards were bare when we arrived. In years past, there was always lots of spices, oils and vinegars. This year, not even a shaker of salt was left behind. I totally support this but it caught me unaware. I had to bum salt and pepper.

So the first night, cashews provided the salt for braised pork. I’ve put aside some wine to use in salad dressing. Gingersnap cookies provided the spice in an apple pie. And it’s all delicious.<br

Preparations begin

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Our departure is a month away and our thoughts point west to Alaska. I was googling Five Finger Lighthouse and came across this link about our temporary home.

Just when I have embarked on a regular running regimen, we head out to a three acre island. Three acres! 130,680 square feet or 361.5 x 361.5 feet! Oh my. That’s a lot of laps – 3.6 laps to run one mile. Luckily the island’s size doubles at low tide. I’ll have to watch out for slippery rocks.

We’ve asked the three most important questions: Is there internet service; is there cell phone service; and is there hot water? Happily, the answers are yes, yes and yes. There aren’t mosquitos or gnats but spiders were mentioned twice. Can’t be as bad as Australia’s huntsmen spiders. I hope.

We will miss prime boating season on Lake Champlain so yesterday we boarded our sailboat, Boreas, and headed up the Otter Creek in grey, misty weather to Vergennes, VT. We only hit one log in the water but this one is waiting to make the dive over the falls!

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We could hear the falls before we saw them and I’m glad we approached from the downside.

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Very dramatic.

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Make that 51 shades of gray

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I spoke too soon. Yesterday was forecast to be partly sunny. If that means fog so thick you can’t see 100 yards, then it was. We were surprised by a knock at the door in the dark and fog by a trio of young men who sailed here from Portland. I expect we’ll hear more from them this morning.

We had a few other visitors during the day.

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A photographer, Friend of Seguin, came out to photo-document the buildings. Capt. Ethan also brought a young family from our neck of the woods, Lake Champlain. They own a CSA, Blue Heron Farm, on Grand Isle, VT and were here for an end of season vacation with their adorable daughters. Their CSA includes yarn!!!

I have yet to identify a family of small hawks who call the island home. I can’t find the Peterson bird book that used to be here, so I am using my Audobon app which is even better.

Today is glorious. Sunny and warmer. I’m not even wearing any wool. Very optimistic.

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I may even need my sunglasses with their homemade croakies.

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Back to island life

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We left home at 0800, passed a stray cow on the road at 8:15 ( the farmer didn’t seem to mind), boarded a ferry, drove through mist, fog, heavy rain and light rain. The leaves in northern VT were beautiful.

We got close to the final boat ride and it was raining steadily (but the wind wasn’t too bad). I have to admit I thought the Holiday Inn in Bath looked pretty attractive at that point, but figured it’s always a minor hassle moving to the island, it would probably be more pleasant in nice weather but a little rain wasn’t really a problem. Besides, Capt. Ethan assured us it would be sunny on the island and he was right. So we donned our foulies, put our stuff in garbage bags and Away we went.

And he was right. I even saw a rainbow wannabe. It was more like a prism on the horizon because it was truncated by the low cloud ceiling.

By 5 pm, we were ashore and our food was in the refrigerator. So we had plenty of time to admire all the work which has been done since our last visit and to settle in to island life again.

We’re settled in and the wind picked up and blew all night from the Sou’west. Perfect lighthouse weather!

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Ignore all signs

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At least three times during our trip to Puerto Rico we were told, you will see a sign that says, “Don’t Enter”. Just ignore it. So we did. Very unlike me, because I usually obey all the rules. The first was for Flamenco Beach on Culebra. We were advised not to pick anything up while snorkeling because it could be an unexploded device. No problem. So while I ignored the do not enter sign, I didn’t touch anything.

We wanted to tour the derelict lighthouse on Culebrita. Who knows, we could end up as caretakers. We met a Belgium couple whose paths we crossed a couple of times and one of them explained the lighthouse was well worth seeing. It’s surrounded by barbed wire and a fence that says, “No trespassing” but just ignore it. So we did. I can see why the sign was there. The buildings were in quite a state of disrepair. There were a lot of similarities to American and Australian lighthouses but the outbuildings definitely had a Spanish flair. There were open courtyards with tiled floors, and ornate stonework, which was really quite magnificent. The stairs were missing quite a few pieces and the tower’s cupola had blown off and was lying outside the barbed wire fence. But the light still worked and we could observe it from our anchorage.

Back – to the lighthouse

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Not physically but in photos. What can I say? There were no rainbows in the Adirondacks today. We enjoyed the Milky Way tonight from the hot tub but I don’t have any photos to show for it.

This shot is looking north towards Popham Beach, ME from the North Trail, historically Tim’s favorite trail.

North view

Here’s a shot of the keeper’s quarters and lighthouse from the South trail, my favorite trail, with clouds radiating from the lighthouse.

Seguin from the South Trail

Fog horn and fog light

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I remember the first time I noticed the lighthouse’s unique effect in the fog at night. The vertical bars in the windows project out as shadows and it looks as if there is a huge umbrella originating from the light, providing protection for those under it. There’s even a lot of bird activity at night as they get distracted by the light during their fall migration. A hawk family of four stays around the island and one definitely buzzed me today when I ventured outside. The fog horn has been on more than it has been off over the past couple of days. We’re debating whether the sound would be different if it blew during clear, dry weather as opposed to damp, wet weather. The jury is still out on that one.

Seguin at night

Fog light