Watched March Madness and fixed a traditional Easter Dinner.....pot of white beans, cornbread, slaw and some fried potatoes for the captain. Always nice to have "comfort" food.....
Monday we walked to Hope Town Point to see the cut. Well the sign said 1-mile going and 1-mile coming....follow the path....Rik is sure we walked at least 7-miles and we never saw the cut.....too many private homes.....it was interesting and homes were nice. Their transportation.....golf carts
Eagle Rock...entrance to Hope Town
Home
Home on the beach....all had generator houses
Captain on the beach
Silverthrone 2043 miles west
Out on the point...for sale
Pink House
Rudolph the RED Nose Reindeer
Follow the path around to the Abacos Sea
Private airplane
Back to the main path to town
Vernon's Grocery which included the Upper Crust Bakery
Hope Town Cemetery
Stopped at Harbour Edge for a late lunch and then back to the marina so we could walk Miss Saddi before the rain arrived. This is the most rain we have seen since leaving Illinois in October. The clouds opened up and washed the Nanseann.
But oh me...oh my what a sunset
Isn't that PRETTY
Well the day isn't over.....think we will call this "Exercise Day"......this evening we have our date with Sam that didn't happen Saturday.....we have been invited to the Hope Town Lighthouse for the evening lighting by the lighthouse keeper....this is exciting folks....this should be on your bucket list....Sherman, our shuttle driver takes us over at 7:30PM....
Diane, our neighbor is going with us
This candy-stripped lighthouse was built by the British Imperial Lighthouse Service in 1863, remodeled in 1934, and still uses a small kerosene-fueled mantle and huge rotating glass Fresnel lens to send a beam of light which can be seen for up to 20 miles. A hand pump is used to pressurize kerosene stored in containers that lie below the lantern room. The pressurized kerosene travels up a tube to a vaporizer. The vaporizer sprays the fuel onto a pre-heated mantle that is known as the "soul" of the lighthouse. Every two hours the lighthouse keeper has to raise weights with a hand winch...700 pounds of weights...to the top of the tower. As the weights descend, they operate a meticulously timed series of bronze gears. The gears rotate the 4-ton lenses once around every 15 seconds. The entire rotating system was suspended in a vat of mercury to level and stabilize the rotation. The lighthouse tower itself is 89 feet high and has a 101-step climb to the lens room.
It ended up Sam was not there but Jeffery, his cousin, was on duty this evening and he gave us the tour. His father, as Sam's father had been lighthouse keepers. They each have a house on site and maintain the picturesque candy-stripped lighthouse. By the way....Sam is also our dock master and this is why we got an invitation.
Pressurized kerosene stations
Climbed thru a small door to the deck around the lighthouse
Lens Room...glass fresnel lens
Jeffery raising weights with a hand winch
Climbed a ladder to look inside
"Soul" of the lighthouse...uses 2 1/2 gallons of kerosene a lighting
4-ton lenses
once around every 15 seconds
Jeffery climbs the steps every 2 hours to raise the weights....dusk to dawn
Looking down 89 feet
Here comes Diane and Rik
Round and around we go
Back on dock waiting for Sherman to pick us up
This was a once in a lifetime event and something you do not get to do unless you know who to ask.....Thanks Dave and Dianne on Boot Scootin for the tip....when we docked at the marina Sam was there to help us with our lines and we told him we had been talking about him an hour before meeting him......which long/short lead to our invitation......
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