Sunday
September 4, 2016
When I went out early this morning to raise the flag, our overnight guests Jennifer & Bill were already on the front porch eating their breakfast. They told me they were up early to watch the sunrise and absolutely loved the beautiful
views everywhere on the island. They wanted to know if we get blasé about the spectacular views living here and I told her that we try hard not to. I know for sure we’ll miss seeing the ocean in every direction when we leave.
Patty and I sat out on the porch with our coffee before breakfast – it was comfortably cool at about 60 degrees and the sun was shining brightly on the water. For breakfast, Patty made tortilla with eggs and cheese on top and homemade salsa on the side.
After breakfast, Steve and Peg who camped on Seguin last night, came up the hill and told us they got some good pictures of the lighthouse and stars last night. Around 8:30 were then really surprised to see Cyndy and two friends come up to the house.
Cyndy said she called on the way over to ask if we could dinghy them in but our phone never rang. Without one of us to get them, they really had a time getting ashore. They nosed up to the beach and Cyndy jumped out to get the dinghy while her friends tied up to a morning. Cyndy didn’t remember that we take the seat and oars out of the dinghy and didn’t notice until she dragged Hinckley to the edge of the water. Cyndy then ran up to the Engine House and didn’t see the oars and seat (we kind of hide them a little so they don’t get “borrowed”) there so went to check the boathouse to look. Not there either. She checked the Engine House again and found them this time and then went back to the beach. Ok, finally ready to go with the seat in and oars attached, she pushed off and realized she’d forgotten to put the plug in and water was pouring in. Tough morning. But, they did make it and Cyndy came up the hill to the house with her usual smile and laugh.
A couple and their two young children were our next visitors, arriving here from Ram Island where they camped last night. They were followed by a father and his late-teenage son, the dad telling us that he and his wife had been substitute Lighthouse Keeper’s on Damariscove Island when his son and daughter we only a few years old. Five guys came up together, one with a big black lab that ran around the yard, and found Jennifer and Bill eating on a bench, begging them for food. Last night they had the Golden Retriever Abby after their dinner and today this dog after their lunch. Luckily, they were good sports about it.
Patty and I went down the hill with Cyndy and her friends so I could row them out in the dinghy. Patty got a couple of gallons of water and went back up before I dinghied them out because we had several groups on their way up the hill and Ethan’s ferry was coming into the cove. I did beat the ferry and got Hinckley pulled up into her parking spot, tied up, oars and seat put away, and was up the hill before Ethan’s group. Patty was giving a tour when I got back up and I greeted the first of the ferry group as they came up. While Patty was still in the tower, a helicopter passed by pretty close to the west side of the island. Is it landing? Just when we thought it was simply passing by, it turned around and came slowly over the helicopter pad where it hovered and got lower, lower, and (what the heck?) took off. It passed right over the camping area where Steve and Peggy were breaking down camp. Was he thinking about landing there…who knows? We and the guests all got tons of pictures and video, but still none of a helicopter landing!
Ethan’s group was close to twenty visitors plus some others that stayed aboard to fish. We also had lots more visitors that came on their own boats including a group of six that was made up by some repeat visitors and a couple that recently visited the Halfway Rock Lighthouse in the Casco Bay which was recently purchased at auction by an individual.
We took a quick lunch break, Patty making chicken sandwiches on onion rolls for both of us along with a stack of Pringles. Sometime earlier in the day between breakfast and lunch, we also had a snack of cheese, pepperoni, and crackers. Things quieted down for an hour or so and we didn’t have any visitors arrive – with the wind picking up a little and 6 to 9 foot seas forecast for tomorrow, we thought we might not see anyone else today. Maybe everyone was getting their boat to a secure place to ride out the Hermine driven swells heading our way?
We were wrong. After the early afternoon lull, a few more groups did come up for a visit. A mom and her young son motored here from Merry Meeting Bay (they put in at Bath) on a boat she had recently purchased. She hadn’t gone as far as Seguin in her boat before and wasn’t sure she would today but she said the water was pretty calm on the way over, better than expected. Another couple with their adult daughter, all of whom had visited Seguin in prior years. The daughter lives in Boston and said she came up to Maine this weekend to avoid the bad weather Hurricane Hermine is bringing that way. They were out sailing for the day and were headed back to Harpswell after leaving Seguin. Also in their own boat was a couple and their teenage daughter who had visited earlier this year. Dad really wanted a 2XL shirt during the last visit and very happy to see the restocked gift shop. T-shirts for the whole family!
Our final five visitors of the day sailed down from Robinhood, just up the Sheepscot River in a very nice, large sailboat. A woman named Cricket was the owner and Captain of the boat and her
companions included two young ladies from Lima, Peru, another friend from South Africa, and a young man from the local area (I think). The two from Peru saw our milepost sign and thought it was “totally random” (their words) that one sign was for Arequipa, Peru. I explained that we have family there that we spent several months with in 2014.
After our last visitors went back down to their sailboat, we went down to checkout reports of a dead gull on one trail. When we got down there, we saw several people in our last group of visitors racing one another, swimming from their sailboat to the Coast Guard mooring buoy and back. They seemed to be having a great time but I’d bet it was chilly in the water, the cove now covered by shade with the sun behind the northern high point of the island. We never did find the gull either – circle of life must have acted before we got there.
Patty made a pizza with red sauce, a couple of types of cheese, and pepperoni for dinner. Our menu for the rest of our stay will be dictated mostly by what we have left in the fridge, freezer, and pantry shelves. But don’t worry, Patty MacGyver will still make delicious meals, like tonight’s pizza, regardless of what she has to work with.
Visitors – 58
Favorite Moment(s) – helicopter fly-by, surprise visit by Cyndy
Sunrise – 5:57am
Sunset – 6:59pm
#Seguinisland #seguinislandlight #seguinislandlighthouse #maine #LifeOnTheRock
