For those who may be curious about Ron Foster & Ron Drummer's current lighthouse trip, the following is humbly submitted.
I met these two fine gentlemen & their wives, Mary Jane & Shirley, today and escorted them to the Mayport Naval Station to view the St. John's (not THAT St. John!!) River light and the Mayport Lightstation. Unlike a visit to Mayport a few years back by Sir John (yes, THAT St. John!!) where a persistent rain put a damper on John's photographic efforts, today was a Chamber of Commerce kind of day -- brilliant sunshine, a gentle seabreeze, and moderate temperature.
Once on the base we encountered an unexpected security roadblock less than a mile from SJR light (a naval weapons transfer was occuring just beyond the LH). After a little whining & wimpering (and a promise not to steal any Harpoon missiles), we got past the security checkpoint and up to the LH. With SH-60 helicopters landing & taking off just a hundred yards away, Ron & Ron spent a good bit of time photographing the light from every conceivable angle (hope they had enough memory chips for their digital cameras!). From there we moved from the warmth & charm of SJR's 19th century brick to the Mayport lightstation, a 1950's concrete monolith with as much charm & warmth as an interstate overpass (my opinion, not Ron & Ron's). With a salt-laden breeze blowing in off the Atlantic, many more pixels were captured and stored in the two cameras. After departing the naval base, these folks kindly treated yours truly to lunch (many thanks again, guys) before crossing the river on their way to Amelia Island light and, ultimately, St. Simon's Island & Tybee Island. Hope they were able to get to all three LH's today. They said they would commence their return to Connecticut by Friday -- two more LH Wacko's loose on the East Coast!!
The pre-Mayport portion of their LH journey took them to Tampa, the Big Bend, Pensacola, St. Augustine, and Ponce Inlet, but I'll let them tell you all about that