(birds squawking)
- [Man] I knew a few light keepers when there were all kinds
of lighthouses around here.
My father-in-law was a lighthouse keeper on Brier Island.
They started closing them up, closing them up,
and people just started disappearing.
Some people went to other ones,
and some people just stopped,
but I think this one was offered to a few people.
Not very many took it.
So.
Well, I get up a-quarter-to-two in the morning.
Nice thing about here is, you step out of bed,
you're at work. (laughs)
Halifax coastguard radio, Halifax coastguard radio,
this is Machias Seal Island, Machias Seal Island,
gen one nine, come in.
There's always something to keep you busy,
but you don't have a timetable saying you have to get up
this morning and do this, or you have to do that,
so you pretty well pick and choose what you wanna do,
when you wanna do it,
when you can handle what it is you're doing.
One shift is 2 A.M. to 10 A.M.,
and other shift is two in the afternoon,
’til 10 in the evening.
I feel now that, instead
of being the keeper of the light out here,
you’re more of keeper of the island,
and looking after it
as opposed to just the mechanical systems that are on it.
You're only bored out here if you wanna be bored out here.
If you're gonna be bored out here,
you're gonna be bored anywhere.
You just take a walk outside and look.
There's always different birds to see,
there's always something different going on.
You know, you look around,
and if it wasn't for the houses and stuff here,
you'd think it's the same as it was 10 million years ago.
(birds cawing)
Pretty quiet in the winter time.
The thrill of being out here in a storm is nice.
You can get some really nice pictures.
I think one of the nicest things is you come out here,
and you just kinda escape from reality for a while.
This is your little piece of reality,
you make it whatever you want it to be.