Fish Delivery - Friends of Seguin Island Light Station

Sunday
July 31, 2016

The skies were overcast and cloudy and the temperature was cooler than it’s been when we awoke this morning. We sat on the front porch, wearing our Seguin Island hoodies, drinking our coffee and looking at the view. Even though sky was cloudy, visibility was extremely clear again today and we could see out to Monhegan to our northeast and behind the house all the way to Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. Around ten, we started to have light rain on and off that lasted for an hour or more before stopping.

These youngsters earned certificates for completing the Seguin Island Activity Kit.

Because of the weather, we weren’t sure if Ethan would have a group today but at the regular time, he dropped some folks off to visit the island and we saw him heading south along the island with the others who stayed onboard to fish. At the same time the Leeward dropped off their group, another boat arrived with a family of five including the father who works with Maine Island Trails Association (MITA) who spent a full day working on some of our trails a couple of weeks ago.

Two groups leaving and we're all alone. — Two groups leaving and we’re all alone.

We had one large family of fifteen that was a mix of people that had never visited Seguin and others who have been coming here for years. One of the guys in this group gave me some trail suggestions if we make it out to Katadyn (Knife’s Edge down) at the end of our season on Seguin. Our list of things we want to do in Maine is getting longer and longer…. One of the men in the group visited Seguin many years ago and thought the gift shop and museum signs were a joke – he told everyone else in the group that neither would really be here. Boy was he surprised. And luckily another person in the group brought a credit card so all the kids happily left with new Seguin Island t-shirts.

Another group of eight visited, including some from a family that’s had a cottage on Kennebec Point for nine generations. One of the women in this group remembers coming out to Seguin when it was still manned by the Coast Guard and being allowed to go up in the tower to the lens level without anyone from the CG.

While I was taking a group up in the tower, Ethan radioed to say he had some fish for us and he’d clean it if we brought him a knife and some bags to put them in. Patty was gone like a flash down to the cove, probably running with the knife all the way down. Brook came ashore to meet her and took the knife and bags out with one group of ferry passengers and then returned the filets and knife after dropping off the second group. That’s service – fresh fish, cleaned, and ready to cook!

After Patty came back up with the fish and all of our remaining guests started making their way down the hill, we ate lentil soup for lunch along with some warmed bread and cheese and plotted the rest of our day. Because of the damp weather, cutting the grass was not gonna happen and we already had the house ready for overnight guests arriving tomorrow. Hmmm….

Inside the tower, looking up through the staircase.

We went down the hill and got some water and raked/cleaned the Clivus. But when we first got to Engine House at the bottom of the hill, we saw both of the families (15 & 8) leaving in their respective boats and then went about our Clivus festivities. As we were wrapping up, we saw a boat coming into the cove and recognized it by their dinghy as one of the groups that just left? Odd… We walked down to the beach to call out to them and ask if they forgot something but before they saw or heard us, one of the people on the boat dove into the (cold) water and started swimming towards shore; he’d forgotten his shoes on the beach. With no sun and the cold water, I bet he was pretty chilly! If we had gotten down there a moment sooner, they could have nudged up towards the beach and we could have walked his shoes out and handed them to him. Bummer for him – I imagine it was a cold and wet ride home.

Rainbows colors reflecting off the lens.

Back up top, Patty baked oatmeal raisin cookies with peanut butter and chocolate chips while I worked on the blog and a presentation we’ve just started that we’ll be giving at the annual fundraiser, “Summer Fest” for Seguin Island at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath on August 13. Kind of floundering around so far but I’m sure we’ll be able to cobble together something decent for the event.

Later in the early evening, Patty broiled the fish Ethan and Brook gave us in the oven along with Brussel sprouts (we forgot to take a picture). It was fresh and delicious, cooked perfectly and we have some left over for another meal too.

The sunset was another good one tonight in spite of the overcast skies. Visibility was still good and the silhouette of Mt. Washington was clearly visible in the foreground of the setting sun.