Lime Kiln Lighthouse
A few months ago, while reading something about Lighthouses, I wondered if there were any local Lighthouses in the local Puget Sound area. It seemed logical, given all the water in and around the area!
After a bit of research, I discovered
that there were several Lighthouses in the greater Puget Sound area,
but that most of them were simply not “active”. Seems there are
only a few that are still sending out a light or a beacon at night.
I also discovered that unlike the tall,
grand, East Coast and Great Lakes Lighthouses, these local
Lighthouses looked like...well...more like small houses with a small
cupola on top! (Duh, “Light House”!)
I determined which of these were still
active at night and decided to visit and photograph one at “Lime
Kiln” State park, on San Juan Island.
I asked Sandi if she would like to join
me and make an overnight trip of it, since it was a few hours away
and would take the whole day to get there and wait for sunset etc.
She agreed to join me in my little adventure and we booked a motel on
nearby Whidbey island, so we wouldn’t have to make the long drive
home that same night.
My goal was to capture the Lighthouse
at, or just after dusk. I wanted to be able to capture some of the
light from the Lighthouse’s lens if possible. Not a terribly
difficult shot, but it would require some timing.
The morning of our little trip to San
Juan Island, it was pouring rain. Arghhhhhhh!! I packed up my gear
and we headed out, hopeful that the weather would be better two or
three hours north!
A few hours later we had reached
Anacortes and enjoyed some unexpected sunshine and blue skies!!?? To
the immediate south, we could see literally, a mile high wall of dark
clouds. Not knowing how long the line might be at the ferry
terminal, we decided to get some lunch at a local place called the
“Shrimp Shack”. My brother in law had recommended it highly and
said it was an old school, shack of a place...but that it had great
fish and fresh “peel and eat” shrimp by the lb. I figured we had
enough time, so we made our way to the unassuming little dive, just
north of Deception Pass.
We enjoyed some amazing Cod as well as
the requisite 2 lb's of fresh shrimp! We had fun sitting outside in
the sunshine like two kids...peeling and tearing the heads off a
hundred or more tasty shrimp! We realized, it had been a long time
since Sandi and I had been anywhere without one,or both of our kids.
It was nice to just hang out with each other.
I checked the time and we decided we
had better get moving, as we were unfamiliar with the Anacortes Ferry
and its Terminal. We took off for the Ferry Terminal and after
following our less than accurate GPS, we arrived at the Anacortes
Ferry Terminal. Just in time I might add! Had we missed this Ferry,
the next one would not have made it to San Juan Island before sunset,
dashing any hopes of a photo at dusk!
We drove onto the Ferry, got out of our
car and strolled around the top deck of the Ferry, enjoying the calm
water and surprisingly blue sky! First stop was Lopez Island, where
a few passengers disembarked, then it was off to San Juan Island. We
glimpsed a pod of Orcas along the way, though they were quite a
distance away. We watched as their blowholes would create little
blasts of water and air as they surfaced every so often. We also passed another Ferry that was making the return trip to Anacortes.
Upon arriving at San Juan Island, we
disembarked and made the 20-25 minutes drive to Lime Kiln State Park,
on the Southwestern side of the island. As we parked and got out of
the car, we noticed that the clouds were steadily moving in. I hoped
they would not overtake our little scene, before we got a few photos!
We walked about a hundred yards down to
the water and the Lighthouse came into view. I must admit, I was a
bit disappointed...it was so small! Why wasn’t the light visible!?
Oh well, I set about finding the angle I wanted and I set up my
tripod. Meanwhile, Sandi walked some 60-70 yards south of me to a
designated “whale watching” point.
I took a few test shots, then walked
around and snapped a few pics from some angles that I found less
pleasing, as I waited for the sun to set into the horizon. And the
clouds kept rolling in! Arghhhh! I then walked over to where Sandi
was anxiously waiting to see a whale or an Orca. She is like a
little girl at times like this...eyes wide, grinning and hopeful and
grateful to see things uncommon to our daily life. She ooooh'd and
ahhhh'd over a couple of seals that came close to shore and she
patiently waited to see something bigger. I love seeing her like
this.
The sun had started to move and as it
set over over the nearby British Columbia coast, I started to see
that the light in the Lighthouse was on! Seems that the rather small
light source is reflected through “lenses” that focus the light
and really only do it justice when it is much darker.
As the sky darkened a bit more, and the
scene was still illuminated enough to capture the Lighthouse and its
surrounding cliffs and shoreline, I began taking pictures...15-20
second exposures, making certain that I could still capture a bit of
the yellowish light shining through the glass lens atop the
Lighthouse.
Now, while I was trying to get my
“Solitary Lighthouse” shot, there was a couple, hanging
around...walking...sitting..and it was all directly in front of the
darn Lighthouse! I decided that it was better to get the shot with
them in it, than not at all! I also figured that they might not show
up at all, given the dim lighting. A few of the shots I took had the
couple sitting and raising their cameras out towards the water. What
they were photographing, I had no idea...I just know that they were
in my photo!! (Maybe you can spot them in the photo?)
The Lime Kiln Lighthouse
About this time, Sandi comes running up
to me excited and smiling, telling me she just saw a whale! She
asked if I was getting the photos I wanted and then told me she was
going back to look for more whales! She was certainly enjoying our
little trip to San Juan Island!
About 30 minutes later, I lost the
light needed to take the photos I was after. I packed up my gear and
headed back to the car with Sandi, who sadly, had not seen any more
whales. We commented on how we looked to have beat the rain, though
the clouds had fully covered the sky at this point. I hoped they
wouldn’t screw up my pics too much.
We drove back to the Ferry Terminal and
found no one there but us!? Seems I had misread the schedule ( which
had just changed that day/for the Fall) so we would have to take the
last Ferry out, which left in about an hour and a half. We were
hungry, so we checked out a little restaurant near the Terminal. We
enjoyed a relaxing dinner, talked a bit about the whales, the Ferry
ride and the trip as a whole. I even ordered some hot tea at the end
of dinner...a sure sign of me being relaxed and enjoying myself!
We walked back to our car and when the
Ferry arrived, we found that we were only one of two cars heading
back to Anacortes that night! The attendants pulled us all the way
up to the forward-most parking spot, at the bow of the Ferry Boat.
Sandi covered up in a blanket and reclined her seat, to settle in for
an hour and a half nap. I reviewed photos I had taken earlier and
watched the Ferry moving through the night between the green and red
marker buoy’s, about a half mile behind another Ferry in the
distance.
In the belly of the San Juan Islands Ferry
I exited the car to stretch and stood alone at the front of the Ferry as it quietly moved through the darkness...a cold, crisp wind pushing past me and through the empty, hollow belly of the Ferry. I thought back on the day...I always seem to “review” the days happenings. (I think too much) It had been a busy, long, time-pressed day, but it had also been fun, exciting and even a bit adventurous. Sandi had seen her whales, and I had gotten my photos. Both of us having enjoyed the trip, the scenery and each other.
I think I may have even smiled...