this is how coconut trees start … cool
Joe opening another coconut
we are addicted to fresh coconuts
I slice it very thin and sauté in coconut oil and eat them like chips
our tour of Elbow Reef Light house
please read the blog for info
this cabinet was built to fit against the round walls
the last steps to get to right below the lenses
the hole to climb out on lee side of lighthouse for the observation deck
entrance to the Hope Town Harbour
MODAKI is down there some where
the handle to the little door to observation deck
see the ocean on the other side, this Cay is not very wide
the Poison Tree … the bark peels off and weeps poison sap .. it is every where
original painting by Kim Rody, Bahamian … it is about 5 feet square, would anyone like to purchase it for me, it is only a bit over $4,000 dollars
another of Kim Rody's paintings
Tues, Wed. 10 and 11, 2015
We headed off to tour the Elbow Reef Lighthouse
" The most recognized landmark in Abaco and the last light of its Kind
in the world "
In 1836 British Imperial Lighthouse Service in London, England built major lighthouses at Hole-In-The-Wall on the southern tip of Abaco and at Gun Cay, just south of Bimini and in 1864 the lighthouse at Hope Town was erected. When first built it showed a fixed light, but by 1936 the Imperial Lighthouse Society did a major refit, using the lens and turning mechanism from Gun Cay lighthouse. The fixed light was replaced by a rotating first-order Fresnel Lens.
The lens and turning equipment in this lighthouse, made in the early 1900s by Chance Brothers of Birmingham, England, is still in place today, working beautifully. The lighting source is a 325,000 candlepower "hood" petroleum vapour burner. A hand pump is used to pressurize the petroleum (kerosene) in the heavy green iron containers below the lantern room. The fuel travels up a tube to an vapourizer which sprays into a preheated mantle. The beautiful Fresnel lens with its five "bull-eyes" concentrate the mantle's light into piercing beams straight out towards the horizon.
The lens itself with its brass work, bull's-eye lenses and additional prisms weights about three or four tons and floats in a circular tub containing about 1200 pounds of mercury or "quicksilver".
Weights, when wound up to the top of the tower by a hand winch, are able to, through a series of bronze gears, rotate the heavy apparatus, once every 15 seconds, and the keeper on duty has to wind up the weights every two hours.
This 19th century system operates totally without electricity and runs very smoothly.
In 1953, the Imperial Lighthouse Service determined that the cracks caused by lightning to the brick tower were threatening its integrity and another major rebuilding process began. Engineers from England's Trinity House poured concentric rings of concrete in steps around the previously smooth tapering brick tower, making it noticeably wider. The brick tower is 89 feet high and there are 101 steps to the lantern room.
The smooth sweep of the turning lens with its five swords of light cutting the darkness over the sea, while light constantly glows between those beams, is known as the "soul" of a lighthouse. Once seen and compared to a static electric-powered flashing light, it is not soon forgotten and the use of the word "soul" is more easily understood.
We really enjoyed this lighthouse and its history.
After lunch we got ready with our wet suits, snorkels and flipper and headed to the lee beach for some adventure. Once there we were met with high waves and most definitely undertow. This was not a day for us to enter the water.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
We rented bicycles for $12/day and headed out to explore, White Sound, Tahiti Beach and everything in-between (On Da Beach, Turtle Hill, Firefly Resort, Abaco Inn, Seaspray Marina, Papa Nastys BBQ). Then back thru Hope Town and biked to North End, and visited every beach we could get access too.
After a 6 hour day we returned the bikes and headed back home (boat).
We had a great day, exploring !!!!
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