Vistors Welcome!
Bodie Island Lighthouse is one of a series of lights that were built along North Carolina's Outer Banks. Think of a lighthouse as the original GPS... along with the Sun and stars, these lighthouses were fixed points, visible both day and night, that ships' captains would navigate from to avoid the deadly shoals off North Carolina's coast. It is not for no reason that the area off Cape Hatteras is called "The Graveyard of the Atlantic"... these lighthouses saved lives! Bodie Island Lighthouse started service on October 1, 1872. Since that day, it has had a relatively serene existence, despite the occasional hurricane, nor'easter, and the harsh salt environment of the coast... but time takes its toll on everything. After many years of restoration, Bodie Island Lighthouse opened this April (2013) to visitors inside the structure for the first time in its near 141 year history.
The National Park Service, who looks after the lighthouse now, conducts the tours in an orderly way. The group I was with all met in a small room at the base of the lighthouse where we were lectured on the "rules" before we made our way to the top of the structure. We had a fairly eclectic group with many families... some were from Ohio, Wisconsin, and Florida, and there were a group of Mennonites on vacation as well, all crammed in this room, learning mostly what not to do. "Not to do": no running, no stamping of feet, no loud talking, etc., but the coup de grâce was "no sliding down the banisters!"
For reasons I fully understand, the park service, for the first time as a public service to our beachgoing public, also explained about rip currents, also known as rip tide. I've been caught in one... it carries you out to sea, but only so far. It's nearly impossible to swim against it... you ride it out, swim parallel to the shore and swim back. Sounds easy, but a lot of folks drown trying to fight it. So the park service is effectively being proactive about it at every venue where they have a captive audience, and I say "good for them." But if you know me at all, you know I can't leave well enough alone in a situation like that... our guide asked at his conclusion, "Any questions or thoughts?" "Yes", I could hear myself saying, "If we encounter a rip current up there, I'm sliding down the banister!" Everybody laughed, but not so hard as the Mennonites. Seems I love a captive audience as well! It reminded me of my short, but colorful career as an Amish comedian... but that's a story for another time.
In this image, I made it down the structure before anyone else (I behaved, and did not slide down the banister), set the camera for delay at 0.8-second exposure, set it in the middle of the floor and walked away... I love the blur of people making their way back down.
Vistors Welcome!
Bodie Island Lighthouse is one of a series of lights that were built along North Carolina's Outer Banks. Think of a lighthouse as the original GPS... along with the Sun and stars, these lighthouses were fixed points, visible both day and night, that ships' captains would navigate from to avoid the deadly shoals off North Carolina's coast. It is not for no reason that the area off Cape Hatteras is called "The Graveyard of the Atlantic"... these lighthouses saved lives! Bodie Island Lighthouse started service on October 1, 1872. Since that day, it has had a relatively serene existence, despite the occasional hurricane, nor'easter, and the harsh salt environment of the coast... but time takes its toll on everything. After many years of restoration, Bodie Island Lighthouse opened this April (2013) to visitors inside the structure for the first time in its near 141 year history.
The National Park Service, who looks after the lighthouse now, conducts the tours in an orderly way. The group I was with all met in a small room at the base of the lighthouse where we were lectured on the "rules" before we made our way to the top of the structure. We had a fairly eclectic group with many families... some were from Ohio, Wisconsin, and Florida, and there were a group of Mennonites on vacation as well, all crammed in this room, learning mostly what not to do. "Not to do": no running, no stamping of feet, no loud talking, etc., but the coup de grâce was "no sliding down the banisters!"
For reasons I fully understand, the park service, for the first time as a public service to our beachgoing public, also explained about rip currents, also known as rip tide. I've been caught in one... it carries you out to sea, but only so far. It's nearly impossible to swim against it... you ride it out, swim parallel to the shore and swim back. Sounds easy, but a lot of folks drown trying to fight it. So the park service is effectively being proactive about it at every venue where they have a captive audience, and I say "good for them." But if you know me at all, you know I can't leave well enough alone in a situation like that... our guide asked at his conclusion, "Any questions or thoughts?" "Yes", I could hear myself saying, "If we encounter a rip current up there, I'm sliding down the banister!" Everybody laughed, but not so hard as the Mennonites. Seems I love a captive audience as well! It reminded me of my short, but colorful career as an Amish comedian... but that's a story for another time.
In this image, I made it down the structure before anyone else (I behaved, and did not slide down the banister), set the camera for delay at 0.8-second exposure, set it in the middle of the floor and walked away... I love the blur of people making their way back down.