On Jun 9, 9:30*pm, Frogwatch wrote:
On Friday, June 8, 2012 4:45:18 PM UTC-4, Frogwatch wrote:
Recently, we were in Hopetown in the Abacos and we met the lighthouse keeper. *He asked if we'd like to watch him light the light. *"Sure" we said because the light mechanism is original from 1863 and it burns Kerosene. *So, inside the tower, he has to haul a 5 gal container of kero up to the top with a pulley and empty it into the original tank. He then pumps it to pressure with an 1863 hand pump. *He goes up to the light and opens a valve and preheats it by getting a tiny flame. *After 10 minutes, he opens a valve and a large Coleman mantle like thing lights up slowly. *He then opens curtains around the glass of the windows. *When I asked why they had curtains, I was surprised to learn that otherwise the sun would come thru the huge Fresnel lenses and set the mechanism afire (these are BIG Fresnel lenses). *The entire light mechanism weighing several tons is floating on a pool of mercury and has so little friction you can turn it with a finger. *He then winds a falling weight clockwork mechanism to cause the light to rotate. *TRULY, TRULY cool steampunk fantasy. *he has to climb the stairs every two hours at night to wind the mechanism.

The light at "Hole in the Wall" I visited last year is probably higher and has a nearly identical mechanism but is in very poor condition. *I was told that somebody emptied all the Mercury out onto the ground too. *The light at Hole in the Wall is difficult to get too as it involves an 18 mile four wheel drive road (or a rental car which we had). *The steps are in such bad shape that you do not dare put your feet in the center. *I'd love to see the Hole in the Wall light restored because it is such a dramatic location atop high cliffs looking east and south. *The light there is currently NOT operational although it probably covers a more dangerous area than Hope Town (Elbow Cay) light. *Hole in the Wall has the remains of numerous cisterns for water, batteries for an electric lamp and a lot of other abandoned stuff.
When we got back from Hole in the Wall, we spent an hour buffing out the scratches from the car before returning it. *We had not asked if we could take it there but found out later it was a No-NO. *This time, just out of curiosity, I asked a car rental guy (a different agency) if I could take one of his cars to Hole in the Wall and without hesitation he replies, "HELL NO".
So, this time we decided to go to a Blue Hole up near Treasure Cay. *It's about 4 miles down a dirt road and then off the road about 1/4 mile in the piney woods. *It looks a lot like N. FL but with lots of limestone hummocks all over. *The Blue Hole that was featured in National Geo cuz they found a skull of some kinda prehistoric critter int wasn't very impressive.. *N. FL sinkholes are more impressive.

There is a boating program called 'Distant Shores' aired up here on
cable that went to that old lighthouse in the Abacos one episode.
Very interesting watching the lightkeeper go through his routine.