True Stories from The Caretaker Gazette

Life in Paradise: Tales of the Caretaking Life from Hawaii to Maine

By Gary Dunn, Publisher of The Caretaker Gazette

While visiting her daughters on Kauai, Hawaii in 1996, Cynde Pangas caught Island Fever. Ever since watching “Adventures in Paradise” on television as a child, she had fantasized about the South Pacific. She called her husband, Pete, and left a message on his voice mail telling him that she wanted to live in Hawaii for a year and was going to figure out how she and her husband would make this happen.

Upon arriving back home in Ohio, she proceeded to promote the idea of making a radical change in their lifestyle. Pete and Cynde needed an adventure and a break from their same old routine. Pete had worked in the wholesale food business for 35 years and was currently a district manager for a large wholesale food distributor. Cynde owned a flower shop and had been self-employed for 25 years. They have been married to each other for ten years and have collectively raised seven children who were grown and on their own.

Pete and Cynde's first hurdle was to sell their Cleveland area home. They contacted a family who had previously expressed an interest in buying their house. Within a few weeks, they had a deal.

After sharing their plans with others, Pete and Cynde found that “it was comforting to receive support and approval from family and friends.” Cynde also had to discuss her dreams with her trusted employees. Fortunately, her head designer accepted the opportunity to manage the flower shop in Cynde's absence.

Next step – where to live? While on Kauai, Cynde had heard of the property caretaking concept and thought this would be a great way of testing out the Islands without making a major commitment. Cynde came across an ad for The Caretaker Gazette while thumbing through a magazine. She ordered a subscription and her first copy arrived within a week.

In the Gazette, she saw a listing for a property caretaking opportunity on a botanical garden in Hana, Hawaii. When Cynde called and spoke with the property owner, she was disappointed to learn that the position had already been filled. Undeterred, she decided to send a resume.

Time passed, and just before Cynde was to return to Hawaii, the Hana property owner called back. As luck would have it, the current caretakers were not working out. Three days later, Cynde was at Anuenue Ranch in Hana, touring the owners' private botanical garden, and the rest is history.

Pete and Cynde are enjoying their new active, outdoor lifestyle in Hana. Pete has exchanged his lap top computer for a machete. Cynde has exchanged her blue jeans for sarongs. The fragrance of white ginger and plumeria are always in the air. Cynde says “Hana is a magical place. It is the most tropical and remote ‘real Hawaiian' community on Maui.”

Hana is a secluded village, surrounded by waterfalls and rainforests. In exchange for twelve to fifteen hours' work each week maintaining the grounds of a twelve-acre private botanical garden, the two new caretakers live rent-free in a small, tin-roofed cottage on the property. The bathroom is 40 feet from the house, surrounded by volcanic rock. The shower is also located outside, with beautiful views of palm trees and sugar cane. They love it.

Pete and Cynde especially enjoy having the opportunity to spend more time together, enjoying the present moment living in this beautiful paradise. “All that matters here is who you are, not what you have. The pace of living is very slow, the culture is very different from what we had back in Ohio. I'm more mindful, calmer,” says Cynde. Pete is also flourishing. “I know I'm adding fifteen years to my life by doing this,” he says. “I've dropped twenty pounds, I've quit smoking, I'm building muscle. I'm outdoors all the time."

Cynde has begun yoga classes. “The other day, during a meditation,” she says, “I could hear all these different levels of sound; the rooster crowing, the ocean waves, and the palm trees hitting the roof. Being here is paradise. It is a calling to my soul.” Peter's advice to others contemplating a change of lifestyle is “Don't let fear of failure stop you. You never know unless you try. Go for it!"

Keepers of the Light

Caretaking is a lifestyle for some; for the Denkers family it was a chance for a unique extended family vacation. They responded to an ad in The Caretaker Gazette for summer caretakers on an island off the coast of Maine. They were interviewed by the non-profit organization, Friends of Sequin Island, were accepted, and soon after moved in.

Although not every family can just up and slip off to an island for three months, they had a few advantages. They are self-employed. Harry is a carpenter with an established clientele who, for the most part, were willing to put off their summer jobs until the fall.

Lawrene works with Harry, writes for the local paper, and does some secretarial work for a teachers’ union. Rachel, 13 and Anna, 11 had to arrange for missing a month of school, and so were given work by their teachers for island home-schooling. The Denkers own a home on a farm near Florence, Ontario, and almost placed a caretaker-wanted ad in the Gazette for its upkeep, until a family member took that on.

"We disentangled ourselves from church and community volunteer work for the summer and – this is important – combed secondhand book shops and pestered friends for good books to take with us. The books made up the bulk of our luggage.” The beautiful 64-acre island is three miles from shore at the mouth of the Kennebec River.

It has a 201-year history of lighthouse keepers. Unmanned, as is the fate of most lighthouses, in 1985 its First Order Fresnel Lens, circa 1857, plus the house and outbuildings, were in danger of removal. The Friends of Sequin Island, now maintain and preserve the island and buildings in agreement with the Coast Guard, whose responsibility is to maintain the foghorn and light.

It's a Memorial Day to Labor Day job, paying a stipend to U.S. citizens. Being Canadians, the Denkers were required to waive the wages, but found the experience well worth it. The Friends of Sequin Island's application had a description of the island including “dangerous currents,” “many snakes,” and “isolation” – words to strike fear into the hearts of the children's grandparents.

Also, “strenuous climb” (it is 143 feet up from the landing to the house) and “continuous foghorn.” Well, there were dangerous currents around the island, but fortunately they had a knowledgeable charter captain to take them in for groceries, with the final decisions about arrival and departure left up to the captain. Getting back to the island was sometimes met with the feeling of isolation, but they always had each other. And the foghorn. “There was fog, and yes, we got used to that foghorn. There were also, though, magnificent views of the Maine coast and the ocean, trails, a sand and a cobble beach, and wildlife. We saw whales from the ‘front yard' and seals, ospreys, seagulls from hatchlings to adults, and much more.

Our vacation was paid for with work, but our duties were, for the most part, on our own initiative and deadline-free! We cut grass, greeted and gave tours to visitors, trimmed the trails, swept the tower, museum and quarters, made repairs, painted and shingled, but had plenty of time for those books we had brought along. Rachel and Anna worked with us, practiced violin, explored, played, swam and read." The Denkers were the guest speakers at Island Day, a Friends of Sequin Island event, and they cooperated and coordinated with the work crew leaders of a local school during their three-week “island wilderness” experience. The Denkers had a myriad of experiences themselves – Harry and the girls were taken aboard a lobster boat to pull traps, they kept in touch with the Friends by marine radio, participated in a destroyer launch, and found that they were content to be alone on an island, but also happy to meet every visitor that came to Sequin.

The Friends of Sequin Island had a few questions on their exit interview paper: Would you like to be caretakers again? On Sequin? Somewhere else? The Denkers answers were: yes, yes, and yes! “Three months is a long time to be away from ‘real life' and it isn't possible every year, but our Sequin experience put things into perspective – it was just as much ‘real life' as is home."

Why pay rent or make mortgage payments when you can live rent-free? The Caretaker Gazette contains property caretaking/housesitting openings, advice and information for property caretakers, housesitters and landowners. Published since 1983, subscribers receive 1,000 plus property caretaking opportunities each year, worldwide. Some estate management positions start at $50,000/yr. plus benefits.

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