Wednesday
July 27, 2016
We were up extra early, 5am, for our day off-island in order to make sure we get the whole crew down to the cove at the appointed hour. Ron and Kathryn were up early, sitting on the porch with coffee when I got up, already prepared
to go. Patty and I had English muffins for breakfast and I think the others nibbled on something as well before we left. At 6:30ish, the five of us started to make our way down to the cove and had the dinghy ready loaded and ready for our first run out to Ethan’s boat when he arrived.
Right on schedule, he headed into the cove in the small boat and Patty pushed us off in the dinghy with Chris in the bow, me rowing, and Patty on the stern transom. In addition to the three of us, we also had our packs, three empty water jugs, along with a bag of trash and another of recycles. Out at Ethan’s, we transferred stuff and people aboard and said hi to this weeks’ Wednesday Warriors Ken, Tom, Cyndy, Carney, and of course our main man and Captain, Ethan and first-mate Pepper.
All the WWs’ but Carney went ashore in the first leg of the dinghy shuffle, Ken brought Ron & Kathryn back to the boat, and then Carney went ashore with Ken. Then we were off to Popham quickly in the small boat, a faster trip than the one our guests took out on Monday in the Leeward. By 7:30ish, we were dockside in Popham where Ron and I walked to get our vehicles from the chapel parking lot and then loaded up back at the dock.
Chris really wanted to join us for our Wednesday ice cream run at Dot’s but the timing didn’t seem like it would work out – they needed to head north to continue their trip, Dot’s isn’t open yet, we have to do our errands, etc., etc. Bummer. Ethan overheard the conversation and told us to go to Percy’s right here in Popham and ask Tracy to serve up some scoops, tell her Ethan sent us. Alrighty then. We went straight there, just a few hundred yards from the dock and Chris and Patty both got their fix (chocolate and coffee ice creams respectively). Ron and Kathryn opted for breakfast sandwiches. I wasn’t able to stay because we had an appointment at a garage in Phippsburg to get our truck inspected.
Our North Carolina registration expires in August and NC requires an inspection within the ninety days of expiration. Fortunately, inspection can be done out of state in circumstances like ours and renewal completed online. We did this before when we were in Peru for a few months in 2014 and it all went smoothly and are hoping for the same this time. In any event, I went to a service station recommended by Ethan and got it done quickly. My next stop was Cyndy’s to get the water jugs in the sun with bleach water and that’s where Patty met me, dropped off by Chris, Ron, and Kathryn.
While at Cyndy’s, I picked up our mail which consisted of just two packages – one from our weekly care package mailer, Jude in Brevard, with a book and other goodies. My aunt & uncle in Williamsburg also sent us two books by Caskie Skinnet, a writer that lived in and wrote about Maine. Thank you all!
From Cyndy’s, we headed to the laundromat, the other three following behind us. At the laundry, we all got loads started in the wash and then we headed to Shaw’s to start grocery shopping. While Chris, Ron, and Kathryn stayed at the laundromat the entire time their clothes were washing and drying, we bounced back and forth between the laundromat, grocery, hardware, and seafood stores. When we were all done, they followed us again, this time to the Visitor’s Center downtown where again, I dropped Patty off and then went on my own to the Mustard Seed bookstore to pick up a book we ordered and to use their Internet. Meanwhile, Patty took the others up the walkway along the Route 1 bridge over the Kennebec to look down at the Zumwalt docked below and just down the river at the Bath Iron Works.
From there, they all said their final goodbye’s for now and they drove off towards Bangor and Patty walked back to meet me at the bookstore. From there, we continued our various errands – IGA, Staples (get our inspection report scanned), Hannaford’s (only place we can find tomatillos), etc. Since we were in Brunswick at that point to go to Hannaford’s, we decided to eat lunch there too at the Portland Pizza Company. The pizza was very good as were the pints of Shipyard Island Times session IPA.
At 2:30, we were back dockside in Popham, this time (for the first time) on the high dock, waiting for Ethan to pick us up. Ethan had a really busy day after picking us up this morning – taking folks from Maine Inland Fisheries (I think that’s the agency) to setup a tower for a Sandpiper migration study, then heading back to Popham, then back over with the big boat to pick up the Fisheries folks and the
Wednesday Warriors, and now, back to Popham to pick up a group for a fishing charter, dropping us off at Seguin on the way out. With the Wednesday Warriors already off-island, everything back on Seguin was locked up and Ethan had Hinckley in tow behind the Leeward. Back in the cove, I pulled Hinckley alongside the Leeward and climbed in, followed by Patty, and then our stuff passed down from Ethan. Loaded up in the dinghy, we rowed towards shore as Ethan headed out of the cove to go fishin’.
When we passed the Cyndy on the dock in Popham, she said there were four boats moored in the cove but that everyone had already been up the hill and back to their boats. So our expectation was to come back to an almost full cove and likely a busy late afternoon and were surprised when we came towards Seguin with Ethan to see the cove completely empty. Not a single boat. Taking advantage of a rare quiet afternoon, we carried our stuff up to Paco’s (the Engine House), changed into our suits, and took a nice swim in the afternoon sun. At one point a boat came roaring towards the cove and it looked like we’d have visitors but they turned at the last minute and started drifting and fishing.
After our swim, we went up the hill with our provisions and clean laundry and leisurely put everything away and then relaxed on the front porch. It was a little odd to have such a quiet time considering the nice weather. We’ve yet to figure out a visitation pattern… It keeps us on our toes.
A little after six, a group came up the hill to see the museum and tower including a man named John who visited a couple of weeks ago with another group of young lady sailors. This time it was a group of young men that he had aboard his sailboat for the week. One of the “adventure guide” (counselors) with him was also here the last time and we chatted with her again about her roots in NJ, not far from where we used to live. She’s close to our son’s age and we were trying to come up with common friends that we might all know…no luck. As with his last group, John’s crew was a pleasure to host on Seguin and we wished them a good night in the cove and safe sailing tomorrow. John was super complimentary of us and Seguin and thanked us for everything today and on his last visit.
While giving the tour to John’s group, I saw where the Wednesday Warriors continued painting in the tower, this time a portion of the ground floor (with a path clear to the steps), the bottom of the steps, and around the doors and alcoves. We’ll have to hunt around a little more to see their other accomplishments.
Just before sunset, Patty made scrambled eggs and toast for dinner – fast and easy after a long hot day. We had a beautiful sunset with a nice profile of Mount Washington in New Hampshire silhouetted in the background.
Earlier in the day, while waiting for Ethan at the dock in Popham to return to Seguin, our contact at the Coast Guard called to say he was coming out tomorrow (by boat, not helicopter…shoot!) to fix the tower lighting rod ground cable. He also said they had a report that the Pond Island light was out and asked us to confirm so after dark, we went up in the Seguin tower where we can see Pond and the report appears to be correct, their light is out.
Visitors – 21
Favorite Moment(s) – swimming in the cove after returning from our day off-island.
Sunrise – 5:12am
Sunset – 8:00pm
#Seguinisland #seguinislandlight #seguinislandlighthouse #maine #LifeOnTheRock
