"Top Deck" People
On Saturday morning, January 23rd 2016, while on our way back to the city, Cory & I decided to make a stop at the Musquodoboit Harbour Range Rear Light, at Pleasant Point, Nova Scotia. We had made the early moring trip to Spry Harbour, along with two Kings College journalism students (Rebecca & Sindi), in anticipation of drone-capturing the Spry Bay Lighthouse, which would be the 49th of our #LighthouseProject. Unfortantely, with temperatures at about -18ºC, wind chills at around -25ºC, and wind gusts at 30+kms/hr, my DJI Phantom 3 Advanced just refused to operate... essentially, the drone told me it was too damn cold to fly. That meant Rebecca & Sindi failed to get the footage they so desired for their story on our project.
As we made our way back, it happened upon Cory and I that we should perhaps drop in to Pleasant Point and see if Donald & Crystal were home. You see, they are the owners of the Musquodoboit Harbour Range Rear Light (also known as French Point Lighthouse; also known as Point Pleasant Lighthouse), whom we met while capturing the beacon for our project & being interviewed by Kelland Sundahl for a story on CTV Atlantic News.
It took a quick door knock to hear, "It's Cory and Larry! The drone guys! Come on in." We were made to feel completely at home, as if we had happened upon close neighbours at Christmastime. There really is nothing quite like that rural Maritime hospitality.
After a chat about our last footage of their lighthouse, and how they have shared the video with family and friends all over the world, Don & Crystal handed over the key to Musquodoboit Harbour Range Rear Light so that we could show Rebecca & Sindi the inside of a lighthouse, and give them a view (as well as a story "shot") from the upper deck. We were also lucky enough to have the winds drop a bit, and the temperature warm a few degrees (added with some body-heat-warming of the batteries) to put the drone up for a quick flight so the journalism students could obtain some needed footage.
Needless to say, it was an amazing experience for Rebecca & Sindi... and the hospitality of it's owners was graciously appreciated by us all.
I've added a photo of a portion of the staircase leading to the top deck of the Musquodoboit Harbour Range Rear Light. And really, it's not only cool to see the inside of a lighthouse, but this photo is also indicative of the people we've met along this journey... Donald and Crystal, along with so many others involved with saving &/or preserving this province's lighthouses, are truly top deck people.
