Hopetown has one of the 3 remaining manned lighthouses in the world. It is open for self guided tours during the day and if you show up at dusk, the keeper will let you go up to watch him light the torch. The mechanism that rotates the light has to be wound every 90 minutes so two men share the care for the lighthouse and split each nightly shift. The live in small octagonal shaped homes at the base of the light. To get to the top you climb 101 steps so they definitely earn their keep (OK, no more puns but I couldn't resist that one). The keeper we met, Sam, said both his father and grandfather had the job before him. The first thing he does every night is to take down the curtains that surround the light during the day. The curtains are there so that the sunlight refracted through the lens won't start a fire. He tell us this as we are climbing the last ladder and the sun is still visible in the sky. Yikes! Sam is about 6'6'' and probably tips the scales near 280 lbs. To start the light, he actually walks around a tiny walkway that surrounds the lens and then he climbs through a small opening inside the Fresnel lens, no small feat for a big guy. The lens is about 8 feet tall but only 5 feet in diameter and the torch takes up a fair amount of room in the middle. The mantels are supplied by Coleman free of charge. Sam also has to keep the lens clean which he said is his least favorite aspect of the job (imagine keeping something like venetian blinds made out of glass dust free). Sam let us climb that skinny ladder and sit on the tiny walkway while he lights the torch. The mantel needs to heat up for about 10-15 minutes because if it isn't the perfect temperature, it spits kerosene, burning him and making his lens cleaning job even worse. OSHA has definitely never taken this tour. Once the mantel was good and hot, Sam lit the torch and we watched as he cranked the turning mechanism for another 10 minutes. His arms definitely get a good workout rewinding this every 90 minutes (think of the grinders on America's cup yachts). The views from the lighthouse are spectacular day or night and we had a magical experience watching the light come to life.
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| Hopetown Lighthouse view from across the harbor |
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| Up close and personal |
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| Window to Hopetown |
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| Joe blowing the conch horn at sunset |
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| We were so close, I couldn't get the whole lens! |
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| Sam sitting inside the lens watching the mantel warm up |
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| Descending after the lighting |
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