280610 Tales from the Lonely Lighthouse

Before talking about this day a few word about yesterday’s fight to get to the lighthouse – and out from there. The conditions were extremely hard. The weather had been strange, 10 ms northerly wind during the night. Then it slowed down, turned to east, then it strenghtened again and turned to the south. When we arrived here with Granberg’s boat, there was a strong swell everywhere. The waves were coming from the all possible directions. No place to land, impossible to use the northern harbour or lagoon. After a discussion between the boat and the old crew we desided to try, and soon Tuomas started rowing to the boat. He managed to do that and took Jari with him. Jari then took the rubber boat, fought himself to our boat and took first passangers.

When Jari was out for the second time with Kaarina and Henna the motor stopped. They started to row back to the lighthouse, but on the shore the returning waves hit their boat, which turned over and the passengers got the cold bath in the sea. There they were, swimming in the water others watching the situation very scared. Luckily they had safety jackets, and after the wave was gone, they realised the water wasn’t deep there and they were able to walk to the ground. We then had to do the change of shifts near the eastern harbour with Eliisa rowing like a crazy. Great job! This was the first time when something like this happened, and happily the damages were only material. We only lost the cover of the rubber boats motor, but that’s nothing compared with all the precious volunteers and their safety.

We didn´t have time for any briefing, because it took two hours to do the change. Luckily the old shift did get to their ferries back home! We settled down, had a evening tea and admired the sunset. But the best part came then: The full moon started to climb up directy from the sea, from the direction of the Enskär frontier guard station!

We are seven people, 4 of us women (more than half of the summers volunteers seems to be women!) Pakka, Jari, Heidi and Heini have been here before, Eliisa, Larissa and Apar are firstimers. Voluntary workers here in Märket have proved the the sex really doesn’t matter; here everyone participate everything. There’s no men or women works in this island. After a good seven hours sleep and traditional porrige breakfast we started the work. From the first minutes it was clear that everyone here are hardworking people!

Did you hear the strong sound of drill and hammers today? Sorry for that; we made the sound. I’m sure the sound reached all the way to the Sweden! We have been forced to wear ear protectors all the day. Eliisa took her post as the main “wallbreaker” with Apar as her pair. They were working on the top with the drill. Heidi, Pekka and Jari started also hammering the wall on the side. Cleaning of the old wall from ancient harmful concrete is a huge job, but we will manage it. Juha R from the earlier shift did a great job with it. The work progress slowly, even if we were all fasten to the wall all day, those who were working on the top even literally for safety reasons. Larissa took care that we remembered to eat and drink somehting during the day.

It was a beautiful day indeed. The sun shined and everybody was warned about the burning sun. But what can you do when the weather is warm and hard work makes you sweating, no-one want’s to wear covering clothes! The sea calmed down, and we were sure to get the first pleasure boats of the summer here. But no, no boats, no visitors, not even any seals for the whole day. You shold come, we’re ready to welcome you! While waiting for you, we are really alone on the sea! But again, the lonelyness is something that makes this place special.

290610 The Both Sides of the Wall and a Bit of Milk

Last night after publishing the diary note of yesterday, we got a message from Tuomas, who told us we should definately not break the old concrete on the top of the breakwater. We felt very frustrated, because some of the work we made yesterday was worth of nothing and even harmful. We are accusing the catastrofical change of crew on sunday night: we didn’t have any time for discussing between the old and new crew. Well, luckily we have this diary updated in real time, so that it’s easy to follow whatever is happenig here. Now it is definately time to thank Satu, who voluntarely sacrifies a little piece of her time every night to correct and put our texts to our website.

Even if we can not continue removing the concrete from the top, the wall of the breakwater still needs a lot of work. So did Heidi and Pekka continue opening the seems with hammers and drill. It takes to the back and arms, no doubt about that!

Cuting firewood is something you always need to do, especially if you have almost ten fireplace to heat up! Eliisa was using the chain saw like a professional, and Heidi didn’t hesitate to use axe to make the wood suitable for the fireplaces. It would be important to heat the lighthouse up to get rid of the humidity. Unfortunatly the heating depends on the winds: if the wind blows from the certain directions the smoke doesn’t use the preferred way to go out and soon the rooms would be full of smoke. The new chimney is on the to-do-list.

Our old storehouse requires some attention as well. The terrace on the second floor is finally about to get a new balustrade, made by Jari. Apaar has been working on the new scaffolding by the wall of storehouse.

As we have a vegan and a vegetarian in the midst of our crew, we have decided to cook mainly vegetable food, so that everyone can eat the same food. Larisa cooked a delicious lunch using blackeyed beans and later she made some crepes. Around the food table we have had very interesting discussions about different kind of ways to consume, for example what kind of milk we should buy. Here we’ve decided to use local milkproducters in Åland to minimize the harm for the environment caused by transportation.

Pekka has been taking care of business all the day. One corner of the kitchen has become a real office with this laptop and several mobile phones which have been joyfully ringing all the day since so many has called today asking for the transportation to our beautiful island. No need to worry though, there is always one or more places left for You on the boat, and if you want to sail here on your own, we are more than happy to help you to land!

It is strange how you notice always something new even if you have spent here already many days. For example if hammering the old seems of wavebreaker you may notice, how the wavebreaker looks different from the sides. On the sea side they have been using more regular sized stones, but on the lighthouse side the stones are not rectangles at all.

You have been reading about our live here in the lighthouse, perhaps even every day. We are always interested to hear how are you doing and what do you think about our work here and this diary. We would happily receive you greetings by e-mail: http://market.lighthouse a majakkaseura.fi.

The Märket Seven: Apaar, Eliisa, Heidi, Heini, Jari, Larisa and Pekka

300610 Cinnamon Smell Spreads over Sea of Åland

The morning was cloudy and a bit colder than yesterday, and rain was predicted for the afternoon. The work was planned accordingly – we tried hard to get most of the outside work done before it starts to rain. We carried some more logs into the yard to be sawed. Eliisa and Apaar were sawing like professionals (both joking about their office lives), and so the pile of firewood grew quite a bit.

Larisa went to check on the wildlife at the shore. There are a lot of terns here, but approaching the southern end of the islet is not for the faint of heart – although the chicks must have left the nests by now, the birds protect the area fiercely. Jari has a theory that the birds are trying to have chicks for the second time during the same summer. Is that even possible?

The sky cleared up, and by noon there was not a cloud in sight. But the wind grew so strong that even our dramatic landing three days ago started to feel like an easy one. For we are expecting guests this afternoon that would have to land in bigger waves! KEE Eriksson, a former lighthouse keeper from Märket, is coming to visit his former workplace, together with researcher Jan Andersson from Ålands museum, radio enthusiasts from Tampere region Seppo and Markus and 3 old-timers: Titta, Jouni and Mikko. And we’re also getting two tourists from Turku – what a busy day!

Receiving guests requires some preparations, so the room on the lower floor was cleared, and two beds moved there to accommodate the old-timers. Adventurous Pekka volunteered to sleep in the warehouse outside (chilly!). Eliisa was cleaning the kitchen and Larisa washed the upstairs room (our most “luxurious” suite.). Now the whole lighthouse looks neat and clean – lovely.

Jari and Eliisa put up a baking project – fresh buns are on the way! As this text is written, the dough is rising in front of our eyes and the amazing smell has already filled the kitchen.

From the Märket Seven (Apaar, Eliisa, Heidi, Heini, Jari, Larisa and Pekka)

010710 June Oh June, Where Did You Go?

Just joking, we did a lot as we are tireless and hardworking people (the secret is the porridge eaten every morning). But first you might be interested to hear about yesterday night. No? Well, I’m going to tell you anyway. Yesterday was a windy day, as the days usually are here in Märket. We were expecting Granbergs boat to come around seven o’clock last evening, with three new lighthouse keeper, one real lighthouse keeper, two radio amateurs, two visitors and lots of stuff. Expecting a boat to come is a way more exiting than expecting Santa Claus to visit. Watching the sea with the binoculars and trying to make a differens between the foamheaded waves and a boat, oh my. This time, despite of the waves, the landing was easy from the northern side.

We had a charmant couple all the way from Oulu visiting us. Thank you for coming! We hope you had a nice return back home. Also visited Märket our living legend, a former lighthouse keeper Kee Erikson with Jan who is working on a history book of Märket. We can’t wait his work to be done.

The three new members of our crew have all been here last summer, so they didn’t need much time to get used to this unique place. Mikko and Jouni started building new beds, because sleeping is in good value here. Titta put the overalls on and climbed on the breakwave to clean the iron constructions.

The balustrade of storehouse is almost done, and we are planning to organize a dance on the terrace. Unfortunately it is too late for the midsummer party. Pekka, Heidi, Eliisa and Apar, they were still breaking the old concrete from the seems of the breakwave, and now we are hoping to finish the work tomorrow.

No one didn’t come today, even if there was a lot of traffic on the sea. We saw some cargo ships and fishing ships and even a submarine (well, to see a submarine you need to use a bit of your imagination). It is already July, but not a single pleasure boat this summer! Are they about to extinct? If you have one, you should absolutely come to say hello.

The two gentlemen who have occupied the shop of Märket with their things were forced to sleep without mattresses last night, because we were not paying attention. Still I can promise you, that we are always treating our guests with the great hospitality, so come and try! Actually, it seems that the radio amateurs don’t sleep at all, they are so fascinated about their hobby. If I understood the sounds they had some signals from Mars and from the asteroid B612. In less than 24 hours Seppo and Markus has got around 1200 contacts all over the world. Ocean Japan 0 America is the phrase they keep repeating. Do you now what that means? OJ0 is for Märket, A is for their group.

020710 Seaplane Landed at Märket Today

“Ocean, Japan, Zero, America. Oscar, Juliet, Zero, Alpha.” This has been a steady sound in Märket lighthouse for the last two days. Radio amateurs Seppo and Markus have taken over the museum room filling it up with their equipment. They are aiming at getting 2000 contacts per head in 3 days, and now it’s getting there. “What was the furthest place you got a contact from today?”, we asked. “Puerto Rico, Chile, Venezuela, – Seppo started listing. – And lots from Japan and USA”. The radio hobby can seem rather bizarre to an outsider, but so does probably lighthouse repairing.

In the early afternoon we heard the sound of a plane approaching – that was Bengt Granberg from Eckerö landing his seaplane. This time he didn’t bring any guests or volunteers like he does by boat, but just came for a short coffee-break. We stopped our work for a moment to have coffee with Bengt, after which he continued his flight. The yellow aircraft against the clear blue sky looked fantastic.

The birds are getting more and more defensive. Today we had to walk to the further parts of the islet holding up one hand or a stick – this somehow tricks the birds and they don’t try attacking us. We had to find new “safe” rocks to fetch water from, as old ones are temporarily taken over by the terns. All in all, peaceful cohabitat continues. In the binoculars we have also seen seals resting on a neighboring islet, and it looks like there are plenty of them!

Jouni and Mikko took up a job of marking the fairway to the Old Harbour. Hundred years ago the water level was higher than now by 1 m, but now even the small boats had to navigate among rocks to get here. No more – now the path is marked and clear. And so, just when guys finished this job, we had visitors – a Swedish family of three. Apparently, they were looking to see seals and were told there are some in this area. But nobody told them there was a lighthouse and people staying here! They found the visit very pleasant and interesting – and saw a seal in the binoculars from our terrace. We thanked them warmly as the first pleasure boat visitors of the year. It is 2nd of July, and only one boat has now visited us!

The work at the breakwater is proceeding well – this is our last day of work here, and tomorrow we’ll welcome the new shift. Of course we are having the tent sauna this evening as well – last night’s experience was so great.

The Märket twelve: Apaar, Eliisa, Heidi, Heini, Jari, Jouni, Larisa, Markus, Mikko, Pekka, Seppo, Titta.