2013 Florida Lighthouse Tour Contest

A friendly contest to encourage touring our great state. To run from January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2013.:yum


GUIDELINES

Travel by your personal BMW motorcycle to as many lighthouses as you can during the year and take a digital picture of your bike with the Florida lighthouse in the foreground or background. The lighthouse must be from the list provided by the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society,[URL="http://wlol.arlhs.com/index.php?mode=search&sc=FL"]http://wlol.arlhs.com/index.php?mode=search&sc=FL[/URL] , and be classified as either operational or historic, and the bike must have been ridden or pushed to its pictured position. No credit may be taken for pictures taken with the bike on a boat, or with such a small or poor quality image as to make the image (bike or lighthouse) unrecognizable. Neither shall credit be taken for post-processed entries. Upon obtaining web access, each picture must be posted in this thread individually, titled with the lighthouse name, 2013 date taken, and credit for the photographer, with an incremented tally number for each of his/her photos. [B][I]Example: Key West Lighthouse, 3/17/2013, by cberry, contest #12.[/I][/B] Credit may be taken twice for pictures of the same lighthouse with and without full scaffolding, as would be the case during significant maintenance or painting, if both configurations occur within the contest year. Husband and wife teams would be treated as one entry. Pictures by one individual who owns and photographs more than one of his bikes at the same lighthouse should identify them as: [B][I]contest #12A, #12B, #12C, etc.[/I][/B], thereby keeping his contest standing current and uninflated.

For those who are artists and would like to modify their images, Knock yourself out. Identify such images as: [B][I]art #12[/I][/B], to key it with the unmodified contest image so that we can all see and appreciate the changes.

There will be no ÔÇ£WinnersÔÇØ or ÔÇ£LosersÔÇØ, just participants. Your contest number will be an indicator of how much fun you had while traveling our state. Knowing of my interest in proposing this contest, my wife gave me 2 books and a map of the lighthouses for Christmas. Very interesting reading. Turns out, there are roughly 30 lighthouses in the state, but several of them are off shore and unlikely to meet contest guidelines.

I hope I made myself clear, but, if not, IÔÇÖm sure you will help ÔÇÿfixÔÇÖ me.

GivÔÇÖer, eh?

What a beautiful day...temps in the mid 70's, light winds and blue skies. Round trip from the SpaceCoast to Mt. Dora was about 200 miles. The objective: Mt. Dora Lighthouse, the only inland freshwater lighthouse in Florida. The 35 foot lighthouse was dedicated on March 25, 1988, and is built of bricks covered with stucco.

According to my WAAS enabled GPS the highest altitude I observed while cruising the town of Mt. Dora was 166 feet. "...only in Florida!..."

Mt. Dora, Florida Lighthouse, 1/1/2013, by cberry, contest #1
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From I 95 and US 192 in Melbourne, FL, we rode to Marsh Landing in Fellsmere for breakfast before striking out for the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse. A perfect day for a ride. The SPOT track is here temporarily [URL="http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?&glId=0Jb4VLYv27FLWXKehoapapvqLrfmlJq65"]http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?&glId=0Jb4VLYv27FLWXKehoapapvqLrfmlJq65[/URL] There were 4 of us who made it to the lighthouse and I had the only camera, so I took the pictures for the others to post if they choose.

Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse, 1/12/13, by cberry, contest # 2
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This lighthouse was placed in service in 1860, and stands 105 feet tall, with the light being 146 feet above sea level and visible 25 miles at sea.

Here on the Space Coast the day dawned bright and beautiful, but the weather report for the West
Coast was for a cold front to come through in the afternoon and for much colder temps on the 18th. Perfect weather for a short ride. I'd planned to ride to St. Petersburg and spend the night there, picturing several lighthouses along the way. I per-purchased a Hotwire room for a good price.

Out of the chute I changed the plan to include Sanibel Light as the first objective. Rechecking times, distances, and time remaining it became quite evident that I was never going to make it that way. Next change was to reroute via Fellsmere to Bradenton by the gps 376's shortest route. It was a great ride through towns and rural areas that I had never traveled! Met some great people over an extended lunch at the Bradenton Yacht Club and then continued north to my reserved room in ST. Pete. The weather was fairly nasty and there was a possibility that the Skyway Bridge across Tampa Bay might be closed due to wind gusts. That didn't happen, and I didn't get any lighthouse pictures either!

There were several lighthouses on my list for the next day (1/18) which would take me south on the West Coast and then home via Lake Okeechobee. The early morning temp started out at 41 degrees, so for this wimp heated gear was in order. I got a couple of lighthouses before heading across the Skyway Bridge again and then got into God-Awful traffic from the bridge all the way down to Port Boca Grande. Blew my planned schedule all to Hell! The first contest lighthouse of the day was Egmont Key Lighthouse. Spanish explorers visited this area in the early 1500's and the first lighthouse was erected in 1848, only to get hit by a hurricane. A replacement was built in 1858 for $16,000 and it still stands today.

Egmont Key Lighthouse, 1/18/2013, by cberry, contest #3
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Since I believe I'm limited to one picture per post, this will take awhile.
It's not just my contest guys...:boldpurpl

Here's another pic of Egmont Light. It's located on a key not far from the DeSoto State Park, south of St. Petersburg.

Egmont Lighthouse, 1/18/13, by cberry, contest # 3A
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I have done a few, and think they are a great find. Best so far was the one on the panhandle. Civil War battle there. Dog gone, getting so Old, cant remember the name. Maybe you can help> St. Something, somewhere.:blush

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Der Kaptain from Daytona

I don't know what if this is OK to put in your thread, but this was on the beach near the big Red Lighthouse near Daytona. Traveling the state under duress from the Law.
OH, B.T.W. hey, anyone going to the Holiday Travel Park in Daytona for Bike week? BMW hang out.

Barry, does this look like a Arai or a Shoie (or is it Shoei) ;)
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Der Kaptain
37 moto's later, 14 countries
2006 RT (used up)
2009 RT (still clocking miles)

mrtnfischer---Kevin McCarthy, in his book "Florida Lighthouses", says "The ride to St. Marks Lighthouse along a seven-mile, winding road through pristine swamp and wilderness is probably the most beautiful to any land-based Florida lighthouse." Makes me want to go there! From US 98, take SR 59 south to the St, Marks National Wildlife Refuge.

In his book,McCarthy has history on the site of St. Marks which goes back to 1680 and Spanish settlers. During the Civil War the lighthouse site was occupied by Confederate troops. The book contains a lot more history of the light and the people who served there.

Unfortunately for you, that nice picture you took didn't include your bike...so, you'll have to go back again to have both the light and your bike in the same picture to be counted in the contest.

I was corrected in not having the RT in a picture of the St Mark's Light House. So I dashed out and took this picture of the bike (r1200Rt) and a light house.Please note the the LH is large in the picture and should be identifiable. It was taken in the early AM.

Now, when viewing some light houses in the pictures, they were so far away as to be questionable that they were even light houses. (looked like a water tower, or a doctored photo) Please take note that my picture show a significant part of the LH.
I strongly suggest that the pictures must show enough detail as to occupy 20 to 40% of the photo. NOT POSSIBLE in all cases but at least a decent discription as to why not able to get closer.

I will be planning the St. Marks trip to reshoot soon.

Can anyone tell me what LH is in the picture?? The BMeer is a 09 RT, with cruiser bars.


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Der Kaptain

This thread's mission is to encourage BMW riders to tour the state in 2013 and picture their own bike with a lighthouse in the same picture. To compete, the picture should be captioned as suggested in post #1.

Kaptain, your most recent picture meets the subject requirements just fine, but needs to be captioned. That way, others will know which lighthouse is pictured and by whom and when. Please edit it to show that data.

I'm not in favor of judging the percentage of the lighthouse, or the bike for that matter, that shows in the picture. I do think the bike should be identifiable as a BMW by some of its parts, just as it is in the above post. And, I think any picture taken in the spirit of the contest during this year should be known by its name and so captioned. The research done to find these lighthouses and then picture them is proving to me to be half the fun. And, what a history lesson! Until I started my research I didn't realize that some of our lighthouses are nothing but skeletons, and, some of them are on reefs beyond the visual horizon, so they won't meet the criteria of the contest for a picture (bike on a boat).

Grettings cberry,

It appears you live in Florida, I am surprised you have the notion that one could place their motorcycle in the same photo as the light, as some of the lighthouses (actually not light houses but towers) listed are 6 miles off shore, some like Dry Tortugas and Garden Key are 2 hours off shore by boat. The light house on Garden Key is atop Fort Jefferson, picture a photo shopped picture of a bike sitting beside of it. Cedar Key Light is accessible only by small boat as are several others, how do you propose one could get a motorcycle in the same photo as the light. I found Amelia Island Light to be on private property and the only way to take a picture of it is from the water. I don't mean to rain on your parade but graphic art is not photography re: photo shop.

My recent trip to Cape Florida resulted in the park ranger telling me to get that thing (motorcycle) back to the parking lot where it belongs. I am afraid we are going to experience more of this, as the H-69 Nike Missile Site in the Florida Everglades is accessible only with a guide and by walking to it. Gone are the good old days.

[QUOTE=cberry;845387] or with such a small or poor quality image as to make the image (bike or lighthouse) unrecognizable. [/QUOTE]

The lighthouse in post 4 and 5 is unrecognizable:)
In post 5 you can't see the lighthouse, and post 4 you can't tell if it's a light house or a rural water tower.
Just yanking your chain :)

Maybe a "picture of the LIGHT" from a book or booklet or from the head Light finder, with a close spot and the BMeemer picture with a discription of as "close as you could get" and still have a interesting photo"


enough said, and why is there a lighthouse in Mt DORA?

I like it! There are no winners in this contest, except those who participate; and no losers, except those who who don't. Its about touring the state and having a goal, or reason, for the ride.

[QUOTE]Turns out, there are roughly 30 lighthouses in the state, but several of them are off shore and unlikely to meet contest guidelines.[/QUOTE]

Good question about Mount Dora light. Its not an "Official" lighthouse, but is listed in McCarthy's book. I think it's there to draw tourists rather than serve as an aid to navigation. It got me there and I had a delicious meal at a nearby restaurant.

For GeneT, here's one of those 'tower' lighthouses...How about adding some South Florida lights?

Gasparilla Lighthouse, 1/18/2013, by cberry, contest # 4
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It appears BMWOofA website does not like tiff files, I will work on this but what I may up load does not show any motorcycles.