by - Two keepers are recruited for a historic lighthouse and a hotel on San Francisco Bay.
- The two-year posting starts in April, pays $140,000 a year — but two people must apply together.
- Responsibilities for successful applicants include boat captain, cook and gift shop clerk.
Tech giants could lay off thousands of employees, but there’s still a job up for grabs in Northern California — as long as you have a partner or friend to apply to.
East Brother Light Station is recruiting two people to serve as lighthouse keepers on the tiny island off Point San Pablo in Richmond for two years.
The co-role pays $140,000 a year and starts in April — but yeah, there are just a few catches.
The buildings were erected in 1873.
Liz Hafalia/Getty Images
An applicant must be in possession of a valid captain’s license issued by the US Coast Guard. Oh, and if you smoke, have children, or have pets, you don’t need to apply.
The successful applicants have to work hard for their money. Lighthouse keepers have to be a jack of all trades on the island, which caters to both day-trippers and overnight guests, and rooms cost up to $525 a night.
They rotate regularly between coastguard, lighthouse keeper, cleaner, maid, gift shop clerk, boat captain and cook. “A quality dining experience” is required to stand a chance, reported The Mercury News.
In the meantime, you also have to contend with no Wi-Fi, patchy cellular coverage, and dodgy lines.
Tiffany Danse and Tyler Waterson, two former innkeepers, estimate that they worked about 80 to 90 hours a week maintaining the island between 2019 and 2021, they told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Former restaurateurs Tiffany Danse (left) and Tyler Waterson (right).
Liz Hafalia/Getty Images
Her average Saturday morning to-do list included, “Make coffee. Bake fresh blueberry muffins. Cook and serve hot breakfast for 10. Give historical tour and foghorn demonstration. Clean up breakfast dishes and kitchen. Reset Dining Room Prepare a four-course meal for 10 more people. Perform a boat service to the mainland. make beds Perform a boat service to the mainland again,” wrote the Chronicle.
Despite the grueling workload, Danse enjoyed her two years at East Brother.
“You feel the space better out here. When you’re in the middle of the city it all feels a bit cramped and cramped, but out here it feels more spacious, which is ironic because you’re on three-quarters of an acre of rock,” she told the Chronicle.
All “top-class” chefs and prospective hoteliers who also know someone with a captain’s license and still have a few years left can apply here.
