Saturday 13.7. – 20.7.2013: J + J, P + P, T + T (see below)
Our morning started very early at Käringsund gästhamnen (Eckerö) by packing the old pilot boat with building material, groceries, two visitors from Belgium and five new eager volunteers. Three of us coming to Märket first time!
Morning was very very beatiful. No wind at all. Seals were greeting us on the way to lighthouse.
We got company to lighthouse from Belgium. Couple Erwin & Gerda who are true lighthouse lovers. They have visited over 300 lighthouses. Now they will spend in Finland three weeks and their plan is to visit 25 finnish lighthouse! Märket is the first.
We said goodbye to ”old” crew and they were sad to leave the Märket. Right after they left started the hulabaloo and we saw approaching boats from everywhere. We started to work right away ! Luckily Jouni had received a good briefing from Sirpa and he guided people like had done that always. And Jake stayed with us so he was the other one guiding.
We got visitors from boats, kayakers, water scooters….
There is quite close to Märket to southwest little lighthouse island called Svartklubben and fun thing is that all the people from the island visited Märket today without knowing it in advance. On summer time there is twelve people living in summer cottages.
Today here was also two men working sended by Merenkulkulaitos (owner of the Märket lighthouse). They were emptying old fuel tanks. Fuel was propably from 70´s and there was thousands litres fuel left. We helped them to get the pipe all the way to engine room.
Wow, it was BUSY first day here, but also very fun! There is severe problems with internet and phone connections on Märket. That´s why diary is also running little late. Now heading to bed tired but happy and getting ready for second day! Good night!
Sunday 14.07.2013
Last evening after sunny day the wind raised and during night it has turned from south to north. In the morning wind kept raising and at day it was 12 m/s. It meant no visitors today – so we consentrated completely to work today.
Last crew had got the sauna´s roof tracks attached so we continue putting boards on roof.
Heavy rain interrupted our work on roof, but after lunch it was gone. We continue taking chimney up to the roof (Although it wasn´t sauna´s roof, but warehouse´s roof 😉 ..). And we continue building roof.
Creative ways to move planks around Island horizontal and vertical ways
And in the evening we will have sauna. Hupu (alias Tuula R.) is heating the most western sauna in Finland. This sauna is comtemporary and the new one will be permanent (and even more west).
This crew will spend evening fresh after sauna and eating good dinner! Tomorrow more!
Monday 15.7.2013
Our third day started in sunshine. After morning swim and breakfast we started working. It has been windy day again so no visitors. Beside cargo vessels, we saw only one sailing boat, but it didn´t come here.
Hupu continued scratching the staircase pilar. Brown paint is unveiling more and more under white cover.
We prepared sauna for tomorrow´s painting project by brushing the sauna´s timber walls. Hope it´s not raining tomorrow!
Today we mounted bitumi cover on roof. We considered all the safety rules and märket fire-brigade was present ! Very very safe to work! Bitumi cover is now on the top of sauna so no worries of rain.
Last night we had beautiful sunset ! *sigh* . Evening was warm to walk and sit on rock. Who had the cameras, took many many pictures trying to cach the most beatiful moment. Sunset seemed to be more beautiful step by step. Today it seems that camera is full of same kind of photos…. Well it´s hard to cach the moment as it is in reality, but here is a good try:
Evening is peacefull. Some of us playing cards and all very satisfied by Päivi´s delicious fish soup and pancakes.
Märket will soon go silent, but just till tomorrow morning.
Tuesday 16.7.2013
Again we started morning (well not all…) by swimming around Märket´s ”lake”. There is little lagoon in the middle of Märket that we call lake. Water is changing in lagoon quite often because waves are reaching the lagoon almost daily. But it´s more peaceful to swim in ” a lake ” than in see (and at least we can imagine that water is bit warmer than in the see…).
Today we have enjoyed of sun. In the morning we painted the sauna´s logs by timber protection liquid. Sauna will get another facade, but logs underneath will need some protection anyway.
Petri continued timbering sauna´s walls up to the roof. Sauna looks already very different than when we came. It is great to see that building work really proceeds! Too bad that we don´t have facade boards here, because we were eager to continue with that. Well that is something for next crew.
No problem, there is always some other tasks to do – we started to make firewood from old logs and planks – by motorsaw and axe. Jouni spend whole afternoon by sawing – got a bit crazy with motorsaw 😉 .
We enjoyed the afternoon coffee of course outside.
All the sunsets have been so different here! Last night there came suddenly clouds that sun colored completely red. Even spider came to admire that.
Wednesday 17.7.2013
Today we have built east facade of sauna. Wall is now ready up to the roof! We also prepared the joists for facade boards. They are ready for next crew! That was hard work since the wide planks needed to be cut in half and we needed that 100 meter. Air was full of saw dust! It was fun work!
Pitko treated us today very delicious way – like everyday!! She is great cook and will keep the position! She suprised us by baking pulla/ cinnamon rolls! They were melting in mouth with afternoon coffee.
Today we saw also seals. They came to neighbour rocks. Some of us haven´t seen them this close or alive – so for us it was great moment. Still so far away that they are just little spots in our pictures.
Even if Märket is just rock islet, here is few brave plants rising their heads and giving their beaty for us. Here beatiful yellow stonecrop in todays sunshine.
Life is very simple on this little rock islet; We sleep, eat, work a little, take swim, think what to eat next, work a little more, drink coffee, make laundry…… Perfect!
Thursday 18.07.2013
Picture above is from last night just before rain.
This morning wind was very calm so we decided to make a seal trip. There was room in a boat only for Petri and ladies (Jouni was a gentleman and let the ladies go). Jouni was supposed to go there with Petri after us but the engine died right in the beginning…. Petri had prepared the engine already once, but now there was problems again. Luckily the engine died very close on shore so it was short rowing way back.
The seal islet is located very close to Märket towards Understen lighthouse – little rock islet. Seals were very curious so they came to look what is going on. It looked so funny when there was tens of heads peeking out from see and staring at us. If they came closer they got scared and dived so fast that there was no time to take a picture.
At noon we got vistors from Singö (sorry guys if I remember it wrong). They came to dive here. There is sunken boat next to Märket on the north side. The wreck of S/S Hisperius lies along an underwater cliff from over 10 to over 40 meters in depth. The weather was good for the dive and afterwards the divers rushed to another diving location near the Understen lighthouse as the wind was about to rise.
Today we have followed the weather cast very carefully. It seems that we have leave the lighthouse already today or then next possibility might be next thursday (!). Everybody would like to stay here longer but the ”real world” is waiting. Now it seems that Jouni and Petri are lucky ones who are able to stay here and rest of us have to leave the Märket today. It is still a bit question when we are going, since we are still following the weathercast.
Sauna stands already on the ´roof high´ and we are proud what we got done.
From this on Petri and Jouni will report how they are doing here. And how long they will stay here….
Greetings from Märket
Jake, Jouni, Petri, Päivi (alias Pitko), Tuula L (alias Tupu) ja Tuula R (alias Hupu)
Friday 19.07.2013
The day had an exciting start as part of the crew were extracted in the early morning hours of Friday. The Sefyr was lit like as christmas tree as it approached the northern harbour with fairly stable wind and wave conditions. It was a quick dock-unload-load-undock operation, with around 100 l drinkable fresh water flowing in, and two Tuulas, one Päivi, and one Jake and a set of personal gear of the above mentioned people flowing out. Despite the darkest hour of the day (granted, still summer in southern Finland, so things were still ok) and slippery rocks everything went fine. The precise time of the succesful exit was 1.51 am.
The exit was executed with a narrow margin as at around 3 am the wind speed took a stark upward swing, reaching by around 9 am an average speed of 15 m/s with peaks at 18 m/s, blowing from north / north-west. Gathering a fierce momentum all the way straight across the Gulf of Botnia and the Sea of Åland, the waves make any reasonable attempt to reach Märket practically infeasible.
Being trapped at Märket has its ups an downs. Not being able to leave, and not knowing when it will be possile, is certainly a down (even though the wind would calm – which seems not to be the case for the near future according to weather forecases – the strength of the waves from north would still hold for a while). One can just imagine how has it been for the true lighthouse keepers who had to endure tours of even 3 months long at Märket, instead of the standard shift of 2 weeks.
However, with weather like this a definite up is a spectacular show with swelling masses of water reaching out for the tiny 100×300 m piece of land Märket occupies. This creates dizzying vistas with a relentless roar of the sea, splashes of water against the hard rock, and beautiful prisms as the sun takes part in the show. With highest point of only 3 meters, the sea practically swallows large parts of the small islet.
Besides standing speechless by the magnificent show, we kept guard of the lighthouse. We also did some minor tasks that weren’t impeded by the wind, for example, counting inventories of construction material needed for the work weeks ahead.
So, for the time being, the crew of week 29 reduced to two will keep guard of Märket and keep you up to date on winds and other activities.
Greetings from M舐ket
Jouni and Petri (the reduced team of week 29)