Day 3, 3 June 2015

35 Visitors

Cynthia in the Door of the Lighthouse

We started the day off again by raising the flag at 8 am and then showers in our claw footed tub/shower and a quick breakfast before we opened at 10 am. Terrie and Leon came over to help us and each of us took a position in the house to get the tours flowing in good speed.  I went to the top of the tower and waited for the people to arrive. The 360 degree view was beautiful on the sunny breezy morning. You could clearly see our sister lighthouse – St.George Reef which is 9.5 nm from us. It is the most expensive lighthouse ever built in the US, mainly due to it’s location which is just a rock in a very nasty location with weather and seas. We entertained visitors for about 2 hours till the tides started rolling in. Everyone was very nice and appreciative of the lighthouse and our duty here.

View to the South-East from the Lighthouse

While waiting for visitors in the tower I started to clean the double barrel 5^th order lens with a towel – wiping it down and erasing spots and smudges.  Much easier than cleaning the huge first order Seguin lens I had last summer! When there were visitors in the tower with the trap door closed, condensation formed on the windows and I was constantly wiping down the windows so people could see clearly out. After everyone left I went around the outside of the tower top on the catwalk and carefully wiped down the outside windows. The vantage point in the tower is the best for monitoring the tide level at the crossover for visitors and we are to warn them when it starts to get critical to cross without wet feet. Leon and Terrie left in time and we still had a few visitors. Fred asked the last set of visitors is they would rather leave now and stay dry or see the tower and get their feet wet.  They all choose to get wet feet and see the tower.

Near High Tide at the Lighthouse Crossover

Around noon everyone was off the island and we had our peaceful respite back again to ourselves. We had a simple lunch of noodle soup, crackers, cheese and humus. The wind started to pick up strong and we lowered the flag at 2:30 pm to save wear and tear on Old Glory. I was very tired and took a nap while Fred did some chores about the house. The weather was blustery and we decided to have dinner in town and get a few more groceries so we crossed over at 5:30 pm. A few people were wandering over to see the lighthouse. We took a scenic drive to Brookings, Oregon and hit a Fred Myers to get a few things and onto dinner at a nice little Mexican place. Back to Crescent City for a few more groceries and back to our island. We walked a short distance from our parked car at a local hotel back across the sand and rocks to get back home. The tide was still nice and low at 8 pm. We got a cup of dry catfood out for and aging old seagull that needs help. He also gets a cup in the morning. We were asked to do this for the poor old bird. My next duty was to bake about 60 cookies for the school kids that are to come tomorrow for some tours at 9 am. Fred got busy on the register in the gift shop, locating items for easier finding and calculating up the days sales which we do every day.  I got busy catching up on the 2 days of entries for the daily blog/log. I was up late into the night to get all caught up and off to sleep to dream about cookies and kids to entertain in a charming little lighthouse.

Double Barrel Fresnel Lens Caught with the Light On