Thursday, August 24, 2017 – A short day off island
This morning was an early one for everyone, we agreed to meet Ethan at the beach at 5:45am before sunrise. I locked up all of the buildings, stowed the keys in the backpack and left a note for visitors saying we would be back after 11:30am. This meant Brian and I were up and dressed heading down the trail in near darkness. We had brought almost everything down to the engine house last night, so only the laundry bag needed to go down the hill this morning. Brian took the laundry and I carried the 2 cups of coffee. We were ready when we finally saw Ethan come by Ellingwood Rock, there was enough light to see but the sun still had not risen. As we headed over to Fort Popham, we were granted a beautiful sunrise and it was the first time we saw Seguin Light from off island. This made the early morning boat ride worth everything.
We knew we were short on time because we needed to be back to Fort Popham for the 11am ferry going back to the island. Brian’s sisters, Carol and Lisa, were also going to arrive then to stay on island for a visit. Cyndy also agreed to join the ferry passengers so she could open the island up and start the tours while we get our belongings and sisters up the island hill. We treated ourselves to a sit down breakfast at Southgate in Bath and afterwards started the trifecta of chores, laundry, groceries, and water!
We arrived back in plenty of time for boarding the boat at 11, we loaded all our belongings onto the boat before all the passengers. This was the first time we took the boat over with visitors, another new experience for us. The skies were perfectly blue, temperatures were so comfortable for everyone, the trip over was smooth and we arrived with a bunch of newbie visitors. Cyndy got off the boat with the first dinghy group and started the group up the island. Our dinghy was tied to a mooring and Brian and I got all our things and sisters on shore with 2 trips. It was a very relaxing way to arrive back from a time off island knowing we didn’t need to scramble with our refrigerated groceries and giving tours.
Once everyone was settled, I joined Cyndy with our visitors and it gave us a chance to visit a little, especially now when we are on our daily countdown when our stay on the island is ending. At 1:30 the visitors all went down the hill to return to Fort Popham and we had a chance to catch up with Brian’s sisters. A nice lunch out on the picnic table with Sam the Seagull coming over for a visit.
A few more private boats arrived on island and it was a very relaxed afternoon. I had a chance to pick more blackberries from the North Trail, I came back with about a quart of berries so I think I now have enough to make jam, maybe tomorrow when the island settles down a little.
The evening was fun with a Flanagan family dinner of pork tenderloin and green beans from the garden, finished off with a dish of homemade ice cream.
Guests today – 26
Guests total – 2238
USCG – 6
