Thacher Island - Clean Up

 I was washing a few clothes in the sink when Scotty called me to come down to the beach because he had found something. I went and discovered that he had found a beautiful ocean kayak and we pulled it up onto the trail. We found some serial numbers, but no identification. Peg called it into the Coast Guard in the harbormaster and they immediately started to search for a person in the water. They searched for several hours before calling it off. During this time the four of us, Combed the South Beach for debris that had washed up onto the rocks. It was a warm day and it’s not easy climbing down onto the rocks as there are small steep cliffs here covered in rocks. We hauled up a lot of stuff to include Buoys,  ropes,  lobster traps and plastic bottles. We loaded up the tractor cart and drove it down to the boat house junk pile. By the time we were done we were all quite tired and retreated to the house for lunch. After lunch Scotty and I decided to try out this beautiful ocean kayak. Scotty had plans to kayak around the island until he discovered he could not fit into it. I was able to fit into it because my legs are shorter and fit into the cockpit. I kayaked out past the Island moorings and then towards the north tower. To me it was not a comfortable boat and I really didn’t want to kayak out in the ocean by myself so it was a short paddle. Because we were already in our bathing suits we thought we try to get into the water and walked down towards the Southern side of the island. Once again we climbed on the rocks, but when we got into the water we realized it was too cold for us. We had dinner again with Dave and Peg and this time Dave had made schnitzel, and potato salad and I made a salad. Another productive day and we went to bed very tired.

Thacher Island - Flag

 We raise and lower the two flags every day on Thacher Island.  This one is just outside the keepers' homes.  The other flag is down at the boat house.  There's a lot going on in the world right now, and I'm still glad to be an American.  This was one of my favorite tasks on the island.  :)

Thacher Island - Lobstering

 The days are already starting to blur together here on the island. We really enjoy working with the other couple here on the island, Peg and Dave. We all seem to enjoy being busy and we’re getting a lot done. Peg ran the DR on the South Trail, Scotty and I did some trail work and I collected some buoys, Scotty and Dave went out lobster fishing and were successful. We had some campers come on shore today and also two groups of kayakers. Today was the warmest day yet and so we sat outside to have our dinner, a scrumptious dinner of lobster. It was interesting today that the skies were very hazy, and there was an error alert today as the smoke from the western part of the US and traveled all the way over here. That’s a hard concept to believe, but when I went up to the tower tonight and still on the parapet, it did smell smoky.

These pictures were taken at 5:20 in the morning as we awoke to fog!

Geese at 6:00 a.m.

Yippee!  David doesn't mind going out lobster fishing, so he took Scotty out and 
they caught 4 lobsters and 1 crab for dinner!  Yum!!

We did trail work on the trails near the North Tower.
This is a never ending job.

It takes anywhere from 10-20 minutes to boil a lobster.
You boil them until they're red.

They look red and ready!

This lucky gull got the scraps.

Thacher Island Arrival

 Dave came by our trailer and picked us up at 6:15.  We're off!  We made it to Granite Pier and loaded our gear onto the Thacher Island Launch.  We met Dave's wife, Peg and their dog, Thacher.  As we rode out to the island, we passed both lighthouses and I was filled with excitement!

I drove our gear up to the assistant keeper's house where we'll be staying and then went right back to the boathouse.  Dave trained me on the winch right away and I was able to help bring in the Saturday boats for the rest of the day.  This was rewarding for me, as I didn't have this job last year when on the island.  In Dave's words, "we all need to know the jobs in case of an emergency."  I think I'm going to like our island mates!

Sharron and her crew met us at the dock.  It was a quick hand-off and she
did tell David and Scotty some of the problems they were having with the generator.

Our home for the next two weeks.

My goal is to climb the 156 (166) steps of the South Tower every day.  Day 1 - check!

Sunset from the tower looking towards Rockport.

Sunset looking at the North Tower.

The gulls don't seem too excited to have me back on the island.

We went to bed early - after being up so early and being busy all day!  
This is the view from our bed.  Good night Thacher Island.

Work/Volunteer - Thacher Island

 We packed our tubs and Dave picked us up at 6:15. We headed to Granite pier, loaded our stuff and headed out to Thatcher Island. He quickly said hello to the outgoing crew, and they told us a few issues that needed to be addressed. Keeping with the Saturday tradition, donuts were brought out and it was a nice treat to start the day. Then the day started. Dave and Scotty worked on the generator In the water problem. They seem to be a good team as they’re both very analytical. The boats started coming in with visitors with a total of five boats in the visitor started to mill around the island. It seems like most of the visitors are locals who had signed up during the pandemic time is it never seen the island. There was one family with kids and I think the highlight of their trip were the chickens on the island and Thatcher, the chocolate lab owned by Peg and Dave. They were also two older ladies and they were thrilled when I took the pictures in various places on the island.Today I learned how to do the winch, which was fun for me and made me think I could be useful in the boathouse. I got busy by sweeping goose poop in the two front yards. This is usually a never ending job, but at the end of the day we noticed little poop and we think it was because Thatcher the dog is scared the geese away.