Day 17 Seguin Island Lighthouse 7/21
Categories: First Mate's Log 2021
I managed to drift back to sleep again after the wakes from several lobster boats set Avocet rocking wildly. We can’t complain too much, the lobster fishermen are suffering a bit as the warming waters are pushing the lobsters into deeper and more northerly waters, and there are ongoing discussions about regulations on traps when the endangered right whales pass through.
For his birthday, I had given Bryan the book “A Visual Cruising Guide To The Maine Coast.” He located a lovely island only inhabited by the lighthouse keeper and his wife. Seguin Lighthouse is the second oldest in Maine, commissioned by George Washington in 1795. We tied up to a courtesy mooring and went ashore to walk up to the lighthouse. Despite it being his day off, the lighthouse keeper took us up to see the Fresnel light and walk about on the catwalk. The first order Fresnel light was originally a 5-wick candle fueled by kerosene. The 242 prisms of the lens had to be cleaned daily because of the soot. It was recently converted to solar power in 2020 because the underwater electric cable used for several years prior was deemed unsafe.