The week of September 3rdwas a busy one on the island. USF&WS had their work cut out for them with the mowing of 5 feet of vegetation. The stairs and other areas needed to be cleaned of bird droppings. There were thousands of terns on the island for the summer. FLB was busy during the same week prior to having visitors on the island. The blackboard and floor in the boathouse needed to be cleaned from the birds and once dried it needed to be painted. While the blackboard dried, the stairs in the lighthouse were swept. The following day, posters were placed on the blackboard and USF&WS placed benches in the boathouse and on the island for the visitors. The plan was to have 5 trips on the USF&WS Landing Craft on
Saturday, September 8, and 3 trips on Sunday, September 9. The reason for 3 trips on Sunday was to open the
island to private boaters with a water taxi being made available to them from their anchorage on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately the windy weather and rough seas required cancelling the event for the day on Saturday. Rick Potvin, the USF&WS Manger, announced that they would do 7 trips on the Landing Craft on Sunday starting at 8 am. Those that wanted to visit the island were thrilled to hear this news.
Sunday was great! The volunteers set up at the Guilford Marina at 6
am to be ready for the early visitors. Island volunteers were transported by the USF&WS Landing Craft at 7 am. The first visitors arrived around 8:30 am. The first event on the island was a humorous presentation by Rick Potvin about the lighthouse, the island and the wildlife habitat. There were more than 300 visitors on the island. Everyone had a chance to go up in the lighthouse. While waiting the visitors were entertained by Andy Weaver who was a lobsterman in the area for several decades and who would frequently visit the Coast Guardsmen stationed on the island. Also while waiting visitors were offered a chance to hike over to the North Spit with someone from
USF&WS. Visitors had a chance to sit on the pier and walk on the beach after going up in the lighthouse. All visitors were most appreciative of the opportunity and left the island with a big smile. We all now wait for the 2013 Open House the weekend after Labor Day.