... when we got up this morning it was raining, which was a convenient excuse to sleep in a bit ... still, by 8:30am we were out of the hotel and back to wandering ... we ran across a monument to jacques carter commemorating his landing on the gaspe 491 years ago yesterday ...
... iroquois #1, "what's he planting?" ...
... iroquois #2, "a big cross" ...
... iroquois #1, "he's going to grow little crosses to eat?" ...
... iroquois #2, "no you ninny, that's going to be his excuse to treat us like crap" ...
... iroquois #1, "oh" ...
... along the north shore we stopped at a little fishing village ... john explained to me why this is a "ketch" ... "front mast taller than the back mast, back mast set in front of the helm" ... well, all i can say is that i can tell the difference between an early-1958 nikon s2 and one produced at the end of that year ...
... i captured this trawler heading out using my fuji x-t1 with an "ancient" manual everything zuiko 200m ... $49 for sharpness that in a new lens would cost me $400-$600 ... !!! ...
... it was raining when we arrived at the cape rosier lighthouse ...
... john suggested we take the tour ... the ticket booth lady, lise, was both friendly and informative ... we learned how the government has essentially abandoned the lighthouse, and how the local people are trying to raise $6,000,000 to repair and restore the structure before it crashes to the ground from neglect ...
... maxim explained the workings of the air compressors that powered the giant foghorns ... he apologized for his english skills, we apologized for our absence of any skill whatsoever in french ...
... expanding ice in the winter months is slowly tearing the structure apart ...
... at the base the walls are over five feet thick ...
... ascending the steep winding staircases was a most exciting experience ... at every landing maxim sang us a little song, "watch your heads, be careful, watch your heads" ...
... i heard john calling but even in the close quarters of the lighthouse's beacon floor it took me a minute to find him ... he'd stepped inside the giant fresnel lens ... i snapped a picture while hoping the huge zillion-watt bulb didn't fry what's left of the hair on the back of his head ...
... it's hard to explain why, but in all the world i've seen and visited this this has become one of my very favorite places ...
... friendly, humorous, and quite informative, maxim was a wonderful guide ... he explained how this guy was tending the light when he looked out to see a nazi u-boat surfacing off the point ... the navy was called, but it was some time before they believed him and sent ships to attack the submarine ...
... heading down, john, ever the teacher-sailor, explained to me the difference between a "ladder" and a "stair" (one you go down backwards) ...
... the tallest lighthouse in canada ...
... but, if not cared for soon, it will be the "tallest pile of blocks that used to be a lighthouse" in canada ...
... as we left the coast the rain became quite heavy, so we called it a day and headed back to gaspe, where we used our room's little kitchenette to make up a lunch of seriously good turkey sandwiches ...
... tonight, weather permits, we shoot the milky way ...