Exciting Weekend!
Tune into WBAL 11 on August 6th or 7th (I’ll get the confirmed date shortly) for a news segment that will feature our little old lighthouse on the Bay! I took a news crew out Friday morning (after yet another boat mishap, but many thanks to Michael’s Bay Marine for fixing the seized steering right up and making it on time). Naturally, I love showing off the lighthouse and was thrilled to take them out. I just hope I answered the questions well and did the piece justice! I guess we’ll see when it airs. I learned a few things to keep in mind for future interviews (no matter how many times you are asked the same question, remember how you answered it before!). They liked getting different ‘takes’ in different locations and I think I answered some questions better in some locations than others because like the scenery changing, I veered to different answers each time since I was thinking, “I already answered this, you must want more information!”. You’d think what little YouTubing I’ve done would have taught me a thing or two - not only on sticking to the story on retakes, but also not speaking so fast and without pauses that there’s no where to cut the film. My apologies to whoever has to edit that!
The weather cooperated beautifully, unlike the rest of the weekend, and we had no trouble getting out and tying up without getting wet. We were even able to take a quick spin down to the Baltimore Light and shoot some exterior video for the piece. I noticed they have a big new sign advertising their website on the railing. I had only been putting ours up when we’re out there, afraid it would rip and shred in storms, but we ended up putting it up over the weekend and leaving it up. Fingers crossed it handles the weather okay. It survived Sunday’s storm…
Which brings me to the rest of the weekend…. We headed up as a family Saturday afternoon after the farmer’s market and put the boat in the water at Bill’s Boats around 2 PM, where we always do. We had planned on going to the lighthouse to get as much done as possible, maybe eat dinner out there, and then head to the sailboat over at Old Bay Marina before sunset and spend the night there before going back out on Sunday. Many boaters were coming into Bill’s for a drink and food and escape from the rough waters they warned us about as we put the boat in the water. I could tell by the wind and forecasted wind that it would be rough that afternoon and calm in the morning, but of course, you don’t really know how rough until you get out there. We hadn’t even made it past the last channel markers by Millers Island light before we began debating turning around and driving over to the sailboat! Wow, it was a churning mess out there. We had already determined we would head straight around North Point to Old Bay and skip the lighthouse, knowing tying up would be darn near impossible.
We wrapped my camera bag in a rain parka and pulled the inflatable “emergency raft” (the dinghy to the dinghy) out of the seat and laid it over our bag full of clothes and my laptop(!!). And we forged on. It took us over two hours to make the trip and included gallons of bay water splashing over and on our heads. By the time we reached the sailboat, we were all drenched to the core. Exciting stuff! That’s probably the roughest outing our little boat has made, but it survived and so did we. Besides, it was made for that kind of stuff. It just handles kind of squirrelly in the waves because it wants to either surf them or veer sideways from them. So we took the trip very slowly.
Sunday morning couldn’t have ordered up a more perfect setting. The winds had died, the water was perfectly calm, and we zipped out to the lighthouse in 15 minutes. Access was a piece of cake and even the kids had no trouble shimmying up the new ladder. We hung our sign proudly from the railing in a permanent way and I intended to get pictures of it from the water when we left, taking our time to finally get some good photos of the new paint job as well with my good camera, which I haven’t used yet out there. Kent cleared the gutters (inches of fossilized crud in them!), fixed the wood around the lantern door so the weatherstripping I had installed Friday made more of an impact, and the kids cleaned the deck and railings as I continued the job of painting the posts behind them. Things were humming along smoothly until I stood up for a break and walked around the deck and peered to the southwest.
Ruh roh!! Storms had popped up seemingly out of nowhere and looked too close to try to risk making a break for it and running to shore. I still had an open paint can, supplies were scattered out in use, and we’d have to pack up and likely cut it too close. We determined it was safer to stay put and ride the storm out. Besides, I’d always wanted to be in the lighthouse during a storm and now opportunity knocked.
The only problem was the boat. Without a boat lift (still), I was terrified it would break free of its ropes during a strong storm. I whipped out my iPhone (hey, 3G works out there!) and checked the radar. The first thing that popped up on the screen was “Severe Thunderstorm Watch Until 8 PM”. 8 PM?! We were planning on leaving at 3 PM! It looked like there was a strong band nearly on top of us (red radar blobs) with a break before another one. We decided to ride out the first one and see if we had enough of a break to run to shore before the next one. I ran down the ladder and verified the boat was secure.
Wow, was that ever exciting! The wind completely changed direction and howled while rain pelted down so hard, we had to close the front door and stop watching all the lightning in amazement. “Bam!” The plywood boarding up the outhouse blew off - we battled the wind and rain to pull it inside the lighthouse. Tyler (my son) kept running down to the basement to peer out the porthole and make sure the boat was still there. And then suddenly, silence. We thought maybe we could run then, but I looked behind us and ominous clouds were still bearing down on us, so I said no, we had to wait a little longer. Another line went through. One rope (out of three) broke off the boat. I could see the lines rubbing on the ladder and worried they would fray. Those elastic ropes are awfully cool, though. They’re sheathed in intertwined elastic roping with a thick rope in the middle and never frayed or broke. Whew!
Oh yeah, did I mention our creative docking has evolved over the years?! Not only are we now using a rubber multi-chambered inflatable boat, but I’ve resorted to elastic lines and caribbeaners for quick tie-ups and less strain on the glued rings on the boat (since many have ripped off). Since the boat and the lines held up through this gale storm, I think we may have a winner! With one slight adjustment - no matter how much of a hurry we’re in to leave, we should still have one person fish the springy line back up through the eyelet and drop it into the boat. We all locked up and raced to the boat to get back before the next line of storms, so I had to pull the line through. The outer sheath bunched up and got stuck in the eyelet, so I pulled harder and harder until it finally broke free and slingshot back at me, with the beaner hitting me square in the cheekbone! Ouch!
So needless to say, I didn’t dawdle to get a picture of our cool sign newly hung for good. Darn! We raced back, the seas had temporarily calmed until just before we reached the channel markers, and we had the boat up on the trailer and out of the water before the rain poured down again. Whew! We were also present to identify a few prominent leak spots. Next time out, flashing over the range light housing and downspouts to redirect the gutter runoff out to the bay instead of into the basement…. We also didn’t set off the bug bombs as we left like we meant to. Life can be very unpredictable in the middle of the Bay!
Next time: Finish painting the exterior of the Watch Room and the main roof over the keeper’s quarters, as well as the railing (wow, the bird poop cleans off fresh paint so much more easily!). Install pipes for downspouts. Flashing over range light housing. Install dock bumpers on ladder… Set off bug bombs, get picture of sign!
In search of: flat platform work raft that can be towed out behind our boat (or has a small outboard) so we can paint the caisson and finish stringing guide wires around it…. Can double as “floating dock” access platform for bringing volunteers/visitors out. Volunteers!
Just like when Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone’s crypt to much fanfare, I eagerly anticipated opening the privy (outhouse) on the Craighill light. It had been sealed shut for more years than I’m aware. Of course, unlike Rivera, I expected to find nothing inside, only hoping for a stable floor. I was delighted to find the full bench seat still intact after Hobie and Tony, volunteers with the Chesapeake Chapter of the US Lighthouse Society, pried the boarded up doorway open. I held my breath and waited as the last nail came out and the ‘door’ was wiggled out. “There’s a skeleton in there!” they joked! Nope, nothing - just a bunch of paint dust. With a couple upward whacks of the hammer, the seat even lifted up, revealing the drop to the water below. Too cool!
Gradually, bluish light began appearing over the horizon and the meteors appeared less and less. I walked around the deck to look toward the west, but stopped short when I spotted a fat seagull sitting up on one of the davits. Good, maybe they don’t like the fishing line on the railings after all, I thought. Just then, an osprey flew off the roof directly over my head like he’d been sitting there watching me. He startled me so much, I gasped out loud and jumped back. I think he may have tried poop-bombing me and narrowly missed my face as I found splotches down the lapel of my jacket once the sun rose further. I wonder if he sat glaring down at me from a perch on the dwelling roof the whole time I sat in my chair counting meteors? Spooky. Tyler stayed in bed for a while playing with the wind-up radio and flashlight. I brought out the lemon muffins for us, noting there were tons of ants all over the floor of the kitchen, crawling into our bags, and running single file between all the floorboards. How in the world do so many ants get two miles off-shore? I’d really like to know! We ate breakfast and then Tyler stole my chair to do some early morning ship spotting with the binoculars while I cleaned up and stored all the sleeping stuff away. Eventually, we hopped in the boat to head back to the marina where Capt. McBride had promised to have some real coffee waiting for me. Mmmm! I wanted to get there early enough to savor the coffee and relax a bit before heading back out. The water was finally calm (calmed around 8 AM) and I figured we could zip back pretty easily without getting too wet. As we dropped down into the boat, the temperature was warming enough to not require a jacket. I knew I’d be changing out of my long-johns and jeans into shorts and a t-shirt when we returned. I also happily noticed the black dock line was in fact still intact and holding up fine. For the first time, I hadn’t lost a thing from the boat/lines. Woo!
We pulled into the marina and I made a wide u-turn so the bow of the boat was facing back out and wouldn’t require ‘reverse’ to turn around when we departed. Since the motorshaft isn’t quite long enough for the height of the boat fully inflated, it tends to stop sucking water through after I use reverse for some strange reason. Three impellers later (not to mention all the time lost while the boat was in the shop), I’ve learned to just avoid using reverse at all costs unless absolutely necessary. It also means I have to keep the motor tilted as far down as possible at all times underway. Terrence met us at the pier with coffee and hot chocolate. Woohoo! My elation over coffee turned to embarrassment as Terrence pointed out I had an ant in my teeth. Ewwww! Tyler giggled and relayed how I had pulled one out of my ear earlier in the morning! As we walked up to shore, I saw Marty from Chesapeake Bay Magazine was already there and her photographer joined her shortly with her gear. So we were back on the water after “real” bathroom breaks and headed out. The chop started picking up a little and we got splashed a bit along the way. Tamzin kept her camera snapping most of the ride out as the lighthouse became larger in view, with the silhouette of the Bay Bridge in the distant background. I sported my goofy bicycling “Ride Like A Girl” skull cap that I like to wear to keep my hair from blowing in my face and since it doesn’t have a bill, I don’t risk it flying off like the visor I lost last time out. I can’t wait to see how those photos turned out! 
Ah another weekend down. My routine is to head to the lighthouse on a late afternoon/early evening, haul all the supplies and bags up, eat dinner, and veg for the night to prepare for a long day of work the next day. The energy required to tie the boat up, haul the supplies up, and secure the boat better is enormous, leaving me wrecked. This way, that part’s done and the next day will be fresh. The problem is I can’t sleep out there knowing the boat is being yanked around. I had not had a trip yet where I hadn’t lost something off the boat. A ring ripped off the side, a fender attached to said ring sent adrift, the railing on the old boat ripped out, etc. etc. The Bay and boats attached to open-water lighthouses just don’t seem to get along well for me. I am eagerly awaiting the boat lift proposal… In the meantime, the scrubbing and maintenance can’t wait for a lift so my little assistant and I headed out again Saturday with plans to pick up Marty and Tamsyn (? I hope I spelled that right) from Chesapeake Bay Magazine at the dock the next morning. I skipped my son’s baseball game so I could fix the stabilizer V piece that fell off the boat on our last trip out (causing us to idle back up the Patapsco to Pasadena for hours…). It was a tricky booger - you can’t get to the screw holes because the pontoons are in the way inflated, so I had to get this goofy little ratchet screwdriver tool since even the Phillips head on the ratchet went down too far and couldn’t reach. Eventually, I got several screws put back in and hoped for the best. The flaw in the plan was that a front had just passed through (but thanks for the rain!!!) and the winds that followed were still going strong. The forecast called for them to die down overnight, so we decided to put the boat in the water and wait til the last second to head out while we still had daylight or for the winds to calm - whichever came first (that last glimpses of the sun came first). 
Although, I don’t mind listening on the radio now and then and thankfully, the signal does carry up to Baltimore (yes, I’m a Nationals fan - never really got into the American League). Funny that the article mentions the fishing line trick as my very helpful assistant keeper (my son) and I strung some up last weekend finally to deter those nasty birds.
Although, not quite as smoothly as I had hoped, but still, the roof is patched for winter and the outhouse roof is covered as well. At a meeting for local lighthouse owners/managers (my first attending one of these) Saturday, us newbies were introduced and asked what our biggest current challenges are. Naturally, I replied transportation! I’m seriously beginning to think I’m cursed when it comes to boats. The new boat died right around the exact same place the old boat died on one of its first attempts out. Try as we might, we couldn’t get it to start again. That’s what I get for being optimistic! (j/k - I don’t intend to change that aspect of my personality) Luckily, we still managed to accomplish our goals for the day despite it all. Now I’m on the hunt for a good reasonably priced outboard mechanic to check stuff out.
I hadn’t fallen asleep until after midnight and hoped Tyler would sleep in given how late he also went to bed. Nope, no such luck! He was up at 6 AM with the sun, naturally. He was so excited to be out at the lighthouse that the chattiness kicked into full gear immediately, as well as the million questions. I couldn’t help but ride along on his eagerness, so I got up and showed him the lighthouse again in the daylight, including the basement. He was so wowed by everything. Awfully cute! Now, about that coffee and supplies… I headed over to the cleat the boat was tied up on (after initial relief at the visual confirmation that the boat was still there!). I took the excess line and again threw it over the outhouse and then hitched it to the cleat near the platform before undoing the other side. My hands were raw from all the wrestling with lines I did the previous night, also mottled by cuts and scratches. I wondered where my gloves were. I remembered having them in my jacket pocket the night before, but was unable to locate them in the morning.
Well, that didn’t go exactly as planned. I decided to use the more positive title, although I could have titled this entry so many things from, “I’ve Failed Already” to “At Least No Limbs Were Broken” to “Minimum Two Adults At All times” to “The One Lost Shoe” to “Lighthouse Wrecked” or something along those lines. I learned a lot about the bay in the area of the lighthouse and I’m beginning to wonder if a dock is even feasible out there in the wide open. I severely underestimated traffic during rush hour on a federal holiday (What? You mean other businesses are open?) and we arrived and hour later than I had planned and well after dark. Jane from Baltimore Light called to ask if I could smell their steaks and I admitted we hadn’t even left the dock yet (as my stomach growled because I hadn’t planned on making dinner til we got out to the lighthouse).
