Day 23, 23 June 2015

118 Visitors

Roses in Front of the House

An overcast and cool start to the day was seen this morning. Today was Terrie and Leon’s day off and we had Dottie to help us with the tours. Our hours were to be 10am to 2 pm. Dottie took the gift store and the start of the tours in that room, while I took the first floor and Fred the second floor and tower. It started off with a full group of 8 adults and didn’t let up till 3 pm! Again there was a steady stream of people and most of the time the groups transitioned to the different areas of the tour with sometimes only a minute or two of hold up. All the people behaved well except for a kid or two but it was tiring by the end and the feet were aching from standing so much. The last tour had a gentleman who was a former Coastie and he actually had been to St George lighthouse! He volunteered once to deliver supplies to the station and never did it again – that is how dangerous and stressful it was to do that. It was very fun and informative to talk to him and he was very attentive on our tour. How we would have loved to talk to him more about ST. George. I gave a quick hug to Dottie as she left to beat the tide, this may be the last time we see her before we leave on July 1. She will be staying at the lighthouse over the 4^th of July holiday with family and until the July keepers report for duty on July 6.

Carnation Growing in the Front

After today’s tours, my right foot was OK without any severe pain like I had the previous two days. I seemed to have recovered somewhat from my hike. The tendon is still sore to the touch and something I had stressed in ballet months ago and it seems to be easily stressed now. I had hoped it had healed completely while taking it easy at the lighthouse but the hike proved that wrong. Back to ice packs for it, which I did after everyone left. Fred prepared two fish tacos from the leftovers the night before and they were delicious with the black beans and yellow rice leftovers also. We had a little dessert of my red velvet cupcakes. That completed our late lunch or early dinner. I finished up yesterday’s blog and then we ventured outside since sun had come out and we wanted to enjoy it a bit. We went out to the rock cliffs and nestled down in some spots out of the cool breeze and read for a short while and looked out onto the vast ocean surrounding us. Too soon the clouds and fog bank came in and it became too cold with the breeze to enjoy sitting outside. We took a walk down to the isthmus to see the tide coming in and enjoyed our isolation from the rest of the world. We always have a few stragglers that come over with the tide rising, just after we close up but they were long gone. Fred took down the flag a little early since the wind was blowing stronger. There were a few fishing boats about but no kayakers like I saw in the calmer morning seas. Yesterday we saw a man in an inflatable kayak with a full camouflage wetsuit on. I watched through binoculars as he put his huge flippers on and prepared his gear including a good-sized spear gun. He rolled out of the kayak and went snorkeling for fish. He dove under for a bit and surfaced but no fish were speared. We watched as he popped back into his small kayak and paddled to a different area. It looked like a cold activity to do with a lot of effort. I remember scuba diving with a full wetsuit, hood and gloves in cold waters and all the effort it took.

Spear Fishing Kayaker (Click on Image for Larger View)

We went back into the warm house since it was chilly and had a snack of cheese and crackers and grapefruit and relaxed at the table reading more or on the computer. I looked through some local material and looked at a book on St George lighthouse. My interest was peaked since I had been viewing her a lot since arriving at Battery Point. The book was filled with pictures and it was very fascinating to learn so much about this remote lonely lighthouse. How we would love to go for a visit and see it. No public tours are done right now since they have to enlarge some space to accommodate helicopters, which is the only way to get there now. I did a little watering to the flowers and even saw a single yellow banana slug in the parched yellow grass. I felt sorry for the sticky little fellow and sprayed some water on him and around him. I was really surprised to see him since we are suffering from drought on the island as well as the rest of California. All the grass areas are rather yellow and dry since there has been very little rain. The pretty pink ice plants are greatly subdued also from the lack of rain. I just water the planted flowers including a gorgeous light pink rose bush, which is loaded with flowers that smell very nice.  The sunset wasn’t much and the sun started to emerge from under the fog bank but then disappeared totally. We texted Drew and Cathy about coming over to see the sunset but the tide was still out and they couldn’t make it over for it. Just as well since it wasn’t very exciting. Fred had made a salad for dinner and I put 2 eggs on to boil to have on the salad. I checked the gift store for resupplying and did just a little since not a lot was sold today. I did manage to sell the last two Battery Point/ St. George books that we had to a lady that asked about a good book about Battery Point. I actually sold earlier in the month – it is the same one I got to read to prepare for my duty here. So, I could recommend the book to others. It also has an excellent chapter on the 1964 tsunami written by the keeper who witnessed the events from the lighthouse. Fred did the gift shop summary like he has done everyday. I chopped up the eggs for the salad and we finally had our late dinner. The last two cupcakes were dessert and off to the upstairs with a fire going to relax before bedtime. I surfed the web a bit and then wrote today’s blog and off to bed to finally get some rest. Not enough time in the day. Off to sleep I went still thinking about that stunning St George lighthouse, wondering what she looked like inside and out. I thought about the lives lost there and the sadness, madness, terror and loneliness that was felt by a select few that lived there so very long ago.

People Leaving the Island After the Tide Starts Coming In