190508 The new women trio arrived

 

What a lucky day! We finally arrived to Märket around ten o’clock Monday morning. Due to the weather conditions we were forced to wait almost two days in Eckerö. We stayed in Lugn & Ro, which is an old post and customs office.

On sunday while we were waiting to get to Märket, we visited the Nautical museum of Mariehamn. We saw there for instance the old lences of the Märket lighthouse. On Sunday during our visit in Mariehamn we also visited Ville Holmberg, who gave us information about the jobs he has planned for this summer.

Captain Sjöström and his crew brought us here with their brand new boat. We had to row all the baggage to the island. We were happy to row the departuring shift to the boat waiting nearby.

While approaching Märket we saw one of the seals which seemed to be welcoming us here. Later on while exploring the grounds we found a little dead baby seal. Helena also saw one seal sleeping in the sun on the rock but it got frightened and swam away. Hope we will see more of them during the following days.

When we arrived at 10 o’clock in the morning it was winding about 5-6 m/s from south. The wind has been almost the same all the day. There hasn’t been clouds above Märket today. Clear sky and good sight.

Ville Holmberg came to visit us and gave us more information about what to do. One of the main things will be organizing all the things so that the next shift will have more comfortable here following days.

The rest of the day we spent by getting familiar with safety instructions, products and prices of Märket-shop and of course the lighthouse itself.

One of us was here for the first time one year ago. It feels a little bit strange to be here again. During last summer here has happened a lot, but there is still a lot to do.

Today something was lost forever when ”the Märket paradise” was connected to the rest of the world by Ville. We got some kind of the equipment which allowes us to use cellular phone allmost all the time. It has something to do with antenna… and it works fine. You can now reach Märket anytime.

We have to get our flower (pelargonia) inside now. The temperature is dropping this night down to 0 degrees. Bye now!

Helena, Mira and Outi

 

200508 Three tonnes of waste

 

Last night we enjoyed the full moon. We could almost have walked the bridge on the sea to the moon – if we would have wanted. There was lonely seal on Swedish side of the Märket. It was doing gymnastics. At least it looked like that. We were wondering why it was alone there – was it waiting for someone or was it turning into a seawolf? We didn’t dare to stay to watch what’s gonna happen.

We all three lighthousekeepers slept well in the attic room. Tuesday morning was sunny, clear sky, it was almost no wind at all, just a few m/s. Just when we were preparing breakfast Pekka called: ”Get ready! Ville is on the way!” We were informed that they are going to come with Lighthouse Society’s new gargo to take as much garbage as possible from here. Especially those which have been lying beside the stairs.

While waiting we chopped some wood in order to boil some hot water for washing and dishing. While we were doing this, we got message from Ville: ”come to the North side and take some cartires (so that boat doesn’t hit the rock) with you. We are allmost there.” Off to work!!

We spent half a day packing garbagebags and carrying all kind iron etc garbage to the boat. Ville estimated it to be a whole three tonnes! We also enjoyed well deserved cup of coffee and sandwiches with Ville and Mr. Humell. We discussed about future works. They are planning to come and repair the boathouse leaking roof. The old roof has done it’s duty; it’s time for a new one.

After the garbage show, we have been organizing places here in the lighthouse. List of things to get in better order:

MÄRKET SHOP: postcards, calendars, books, T-shirts etc. Lighthouse products are waiting for visitors.

KITCHEN: There is some improvements made to make it more practical and nice.

TOOLS & MACHINES: we have been organizing them to the same room.

There is also some old furniture etc. We have been carrying it to the lighthouse attic, because it will be saved for museum purposes. There is so much worth saving. One day at least some of those will be brough back to their old places.

We have also been heating the owens in the kitchen and attic room. It’s warm and cosy for us to be and enjoy our time here. It’s been busy but happy day here in the lighthouse Märket. After few rainshowers sun is shining again. What a beautiful day. Tomorrow we are expecting some guests – radioamateurs!

Greetings from Märket, Helena, Mira & Outi

 

210508 Day of celebration and loss

 

We have to shorten our story because we have had some technical problems. Here is our day in a nut shell.

7.00 it turned out that one of us lighthouse keepers has to leave today. 8.00 captain Granberg and his crew and the radio amateurs arrived. 9.30 phone over board! 9.40 phone rescue by diving (brave lighthousekeeper Mira: bloody cold water!)

After that we: 1. Opened the phone and put it in the sun to dry 2. Sat down, ate creps and drank a class of sparkling wine ( to celebrate Outi’s birthday) 3. Decided to announce Pekka that we have some technical problems with the phone. Oh dear, oh dear!

While the phone was drying in the sun, we finished the design and presentation of Märket-shop. You’ll have to come here to see the best lighthouse shop on these waters! Back to the reality. Fact was that the phone was broken. It is important to us in many ways: we use to send our reports for you to read. It is also one of our security equipments.

We had to inform Pekka and Ville what had happened. They were not pleased what happened to the phone, but happy that we were ok. The rest of the day we continued with the carbage project that we had started. All the time we were trying to figure out how to send today’s report. So if you are reading this we have succeeded!

Last night we thought we saw several seals, which turned to be rocks. We have some great photos of those rocks! At the end we saw one real one, real seal! And it gave us a show that saved our evening. Squirrels, they were busy busy building their nest and talking all the time while doing this.

The radio amateurs came in the morning. They have been setting up their equipments, all of it – and that’s a lot. They got their power plant fixed so now they have started working. It sounds like there is an old fishing boat in the middle of the island.

 

Hugs and kisses! Mira and Outi

 

220508 Smoke and a birthday cake

 

(Due to technical problems we don´t have photos for today´s report)

Yesterday evening we enjoyed Outi’s birthday cake just before midnight. It was delicious thanks to Mira. Guests (radioamateurs) were happy to eat it too. Today we woke up with a nice sunshine and clear sky. Wind has turned to north-east. First thing in the morning Outi decided to go swimming in order to wake up, and it was really refreshing. After that we went to make breakfast and we decided to put fire to fireplace and warm the kitchen.

We were planning to organize kitchen today, but it was easier said than done; we ended up smoking out everyone from the lighthouse and testing fire alarm. There was smoke everythere, even in the cellar. So lesson of the day was that with this wind direction we do not try to warm up fireplaces. Now when we are writing this everything is back to normal.

We spent the day working outside while we were waiting smoke to disappear. We made new price tags to be used in shop and some new signs which we plan to hang in their new places tomorrow.

To secure that the boats which are arriving to Märket can land safely, we made new fenders out of car tires. All of that doesn’t sound a lot of work to be done, but it took most of our day.

Much of the work was done in the western and southern side of the warehouse. It was very warm there. We had good opportunity to observe the ship traffic passing Märket. There were several ships passing us troughout the day. Smooth sailing for everyone.

This evening we had a grill party on the western side of the island. Sunshine, warmth, good company and delicious food and a good view to the sea. What more can you expect? Definitely the best ’seat by the window’ we have ever had.

There are six seagulls sharing the island with us. We have also seen a few other big birds. Only one seal was seen today. It came to cheek us out when we were enjoying our afternoon coffee by the sea. So cute!

As you probably have noticed we are enjoying our time here. Rest of the world seems to be so far away. We guess this is one of those moments when you say: Carpe Diem!

The sun is going down. So goodnight from Märket.

Outi and Mira

 

230508 Alone on the cliff

 

It is so beautiful here. At the moment I am writing this on the Swedish side beside the warehouse. The sun is getting down, sky is almost clear. It is coloured with orange and light red and blue.

Last few hours were quite a show organizing our way back home. We were both planning to leave tomorrow, but because Mira was hurrying to work, Ville came to pick her up this evening. It all happened so fast, it feels a bit strange now.

Last night we had an opportunity to watch two seals on the Swedish side of the Märket. First we saw one seal climbing on a small rock and after a while another one climbed on Märket island. It was only 30 meters from us, but it didn’t care about us. It looked like it found a good place and was getting ready to sleep. After a while of watching, we went quietly away – also to get some sleep in our attic room.

Back to this day: it has been sunny and windy. There were no guests today, but we saw some divers on the Finnish side of the Märket. We were busy getting everything ready for the next shift, which is coming tomorrow.

We cleaned and reorganized the kitchen. We also emptied the toilet. We were planning also some other things like burning more garbage and chopping firewood, but the day went so fast. Mira left in a bit of a hurry – I’ll see what I manage to do tomorrow before the new shift and a group of radioamateurs arrive.

Radioamateurs here on Märket are preparing by sleeping to the competition which starts at 3 am. It lasts 48 hours and the aim is to get as much contacts as possible during the competition. There are radioamateurs all over the world; from Italy to Japan and from Bahrain to Cuba. So, during the weekend Märket will be in touch with the whole world.

We have had some technical problems with the photos. (I am so sorry about the water accident with the phone… (Donations in shape of new phone would be welcome, says Pekka) So the photos may come later – we have some nice photoes of this beautiful island. Welcome to feel the magic of Märket yourself!

Greetings

Outi