Sunday
July 24, 2016
After last night’s storm, the night was calm and clear with an almost full moon but around 2:15, Patty woke up to an unfamiliar sound or maybe lack of a familiar sound. Whatever it was, she looked outside and saw that the normal glow of the Fresnel lens was absent and realized the power in the house was off too. Oddly the fog horn was
sounding though. Patty’s moving around woke me and together we went outside to double check the light and sure enough, it was out. The auxiliary lights mounted outside the lighthouse tower, above the catwalk were on which answered our question about whether they are battery powered or not. Same with the fog horn since it was sounding.
Patty called the Coast Guard on the phone and left a voicemail letting them know we lost power. Looking across to Popham where our power comes from, it was hard to tell if they had power or not. We assumed it wasn’t just us but thought we should let them know just in case. We went back to bed but had trouble falling back asleep thinking about what we’ll do if the power doesn’t come back on. The well-pump won’t work, our radios can’t be charged, cell phone will run down, etc. All the silly type of stuff that seems important in the middle of the night and not important at all in the morning.
Each of us woke up early in the morning at different times to the sound of the compost toilet fan and sight of the blinking digital clock in the bedroom and knew power was back on. With that knowledge, we both slept best from then until we got up later. When we got up, it was really warm and very sunny and almost without any wind at all. Before doing anything else, we had to clean-up the wet rags and plastic bags in the kitchen that had covered the kitchen pantry shelves. When that was done, we had fresh fruit, yogurt, and granola for breakfast. While I was cleaning up after breakfast, Patty went up the tower to check the main light which should be on all the time and it was off.
There is a reset procedure button for the light but we wanted the go ahead from the Coast Guard before hitting it down in the Whistle House. Patty called the CG again and again left a voicemail message. When we didn’t get a call back after a while, I hailed the Coast Guard on the VHF radio. They asked for our cell number and promptly called back with the go ahead to reset. I was down in the Whistle House and Patty was up in the tower. As soon as the I hit the button, Patty called to say the light was on. Back in business.
Our first visitors arrived around 10 with four people that included a father, daughter, and two friends of the father. The father (who his daughter said is 71) built a boat several years ago and has wanted to row it from Small Point to Seguin since. This morning, his daughter accompanied him for the hour and a half it took and the two friends followed in a motor boat to spot him. They all visited the museum and toured the tower before leaving to return to Small Point. With the wind picking up just a little and coming from the south (the direction they needed to go), they decided to tow the boat back. Probably a wise choice and the goal of rowing over had been accomplished.
We had a quick snack of pita chips with Patty’s homemade hummus (two flavors, jalapeno and garlic), sliced cucumbers, carrots, and some stinky Swiss cheese. With the time remaining before Ethan’s ferry, I worked on the blog a little and Patty did some cleaning in advance of her sister arriving for a visit tomorrow. Right on schedule, Ethan’s group arrived along with several private boats at approximately same time.
We had already had forty visitors when it slowed down in the early afternoon and we stopped to have a lunch of scallops and asparagus left-over from last night. Then we headed down the hill for water and a swim. While we were in the water, several boats came in and tied up to moorings and then came in towards the beach. A few started swimming and others started to make their way up the steps. We went up, changed out of our suits, and headed back up hill with the water.
At the top, our first group of visitors had seven in their party plus a Jack Russell terrier that was our third dog of the day. One of the people in the group we met here earlier this summer but the rest had never been to Seguin. They all visited the museum and tower and were followed but another group of six made up of three couples that are boating buddies, docked near one another not far from Seguin (Sebasco I think). We had a group of five 20-somethings, all fairly local, and one said he usually comes over with the Small Point Summer School and would probably see us later this summer. One group that visited in the afternoon even brought us a giant box (maybe two pints, maybe three) of fresh picked blueberries.
Around five, early for us to eat dinner, it was quiet and the wind was calm so we decided to cook burgers and hotdogs on the grill. We had them, all fixed up with different toppings (including red onions for burgers, white for dogs because Patty says so) and Pringles. That’s right, Pringles. My new favorite side for sandwiches and burgers.
After dinner, the breeze picked up a little and it cooled off nicely. We were both tired from a busy day and were relaxing when a father and his twelve-year-old son came up to see the lighthouse. Adam and Ethan live on Mount Desert Island in Maine and were in the middle of
a sailing adventure from Portland to home. They were really nice and told us that they didn’t have a dinghy but folks on another sailboat moored in the cove rowed them in and all they had to do was whistle to get a ride back out later. We love hearing stories like that. Adam and Eli brought a picnic dinner and sat on the top tram deck after seeing the lighthouse to enjoy their meal.
Just a bit before sunset, our three last visitors of the day hiked up the hill and chatted with us before going into the museum and spending a long time reading everything and then going up in the tower. They were funny, two of them being really happy to be spending their time
on a sailing journey from Connecticut while the other said he was a “home-lubber” and missed home…air conditioning, tv, internet, flush toilets, etc., but most importantly donuts! The other two gave him a
hard time. When they came out of the museum, we had about ten or fifteen minutes until sunset and spent that time on the tower catwalk.
Another couple did come up the hill and went straight to sunset bench to watch a spectacular sunset. They visited the museum, tower, and gift-shop earlier in the day but said the sunset was worth another climb up to watch.
After sunset, we closed up shop and headed to bed not long afterwards.
Visitors – 74
Favorite Moment(s) – having the light come back on after hitting the reset button.
Sunrise – 5:09am
Sunset – 8:03pm
#Seguinisland #seguinislandlight #seguinislandlighthouse #maine #LifeOnTheRock
