Saturday 20.7.2013: Jouni and Petri, reduced team of week 29

 

Most of volunteers of week 29 left Märket on early hours of Friday, before the wind rose and isolated the lighthouse island from normal boat traffic. Only Jouni and Petre stayed. Here continues their story.

But what happens to next group of week 30, which is waiting on the shore in Eckero wind to calm down, in order to get to Märket?

Read their story here: Talkoovuoro 30 Eckerössä, 752 kb, Updated: 22.07.2013

 

Saturday 20.7.2013

 

Friday evening we got message that the change of guard today won’t be possible. And looking the sea on Saturday morning confirms that this was the right decision: altough calming a bit towards the evening of Friday, the wind speed was at 9 am on Friday’s levels. This means that our tour at Märket will be extended, Saturday being our first bonus day.

Being isolated at Märket is no reason for inaction. On the contrary, to have something to work on keeps the mind clear and crisp. Today, we focused on two main tasks: fixing the enginge of the boat and clearing the yard from the logs by chopping them to firewood.

As reported previously, there has been problems with the engine of Märket’s boat – the engine starts but won’t keep on running. Luckily help was near: skilled personnel from Märket motorservice happened to be around (read: Petri).

The problem was soon narrowed down to carburettor. Petri’s initial guess proved right: tiny drop of water in a wrong place can choke an engine. Remove this and you should be ok: and so it was. Good work Petri!

As Petri worked with the engine, I concentrated on chopping down some wood. This proved to be relaxing way to spend the day. However, caution was needed as the logs were quite heavily filled with nails.

We wrapped up the day by heating up the sauna, enjoyed the smooth heat, and bathed in Märket’s little ponds cooled by the fresh seawater that has flowed in during the past 36 h.

Towards the evening the wind has notably calmed (mere 4 m/s at 8 pm) and the waves too . However, no extraction plans are currently underway, so if the weather forecasts are accurate and the wind will pick up again during the night our extended tour at Märket will continue. How long, we will see.

 

Sunday 21.7.2013

 

Guess what – the waves are back! The wind graph now resembles the altitude profile of a mountain stage in Tour de France. So by Sunday morning we’re again at the 15 m/s average and 18 m/s max levels. And the views are just fantastic. I took this morning in a timeframe of 30 minutes around 2 500 fotos trying to capture the hypnotic motion of the waves against the shores of the islet (after discovering from my camera a ”high speed burst” option to capture ceaselessly frames with a single shot). Our second day in confinement – sorry, our second bonus day at Märket that is 🙂 – had thus a beautiful start, with the sun shining from a bright blue sky.

We continued making firewood. A side project related to this was putting things in the boathouse in a better order so to fit in the end results. After completing the sauna maybe the next construction project could be a storage house for the firewood!

We also made some improvement for old tires used to support docking of boats (so to protect them from hitting the rock). The problem has been that when lifting the tires back to shore they’re full of water. So a simple solution is to cut a hole to the tire to help the water flow out. This is excactly what we did, with the help of a mechanical cutter.

Our extended stay has started to take a shape, a rhythm for activities. We sleep, work, eat, maintain the premises, and stand in awe of the stunning nature that surrounds us. We take turns in preparing meals and avoid making this activity a competion for the best cook :-). Similarly other common activities are shared, be that keeping the kitchen clean or washing the dishes. The spirits are high, and we intend to enjoy this opportunity we now have in our hands to the max.

 

Monday 22.7.2013

 

Ever seen the movie ”Groundhog Day”? So you know the story: the protagonist played by Bill Murray enters in a mysterious loop where he re-lives the same day again and again, each morning waking up as the day he just lived never happened. Well, this is perhaps the Groundhog day of Petri’s and mine with a Märket twist. So, wake up in the morning, look outside, what do you see? Yes, you’re right, waves. Today perhaps even stronger than yesterday. Breakfast, then to work. Lunch, some more work. Coffee break, finish the day, then some spare time. Experience the spectacular sunset (yet to be come today – I assume that sun *will* set today :-), then go to sleep.

The difference to Bill Murray’s fate is that we seem to have progress: although the weather remains unchanged, the logs-to-firewood project is now complete, and today we didn’t have to re-do the holes in the tires :-).

Instead we moved on to preparing to paint the hook that lies just above the main door to the lighthouse. First we needed to remove the old paint after which we could apply a base paint. The true paint will come tomorrow, if things go as planned – will the hook become white as an angel, or will there be a mix of Märket red, will be surpise (some reason for you to keep on following this journal).

We also did some minor tasks, continuing the inventing of construction material, and removing surplus strips from the new roof in order to prevent the roof now detaching in the wind before it can be finally sealed to the main structure (possible after the eaves are in place).

And as it is, we are not alone in this small piece of rock. Yesterday evening two seals came to pay a visit to us. It took actually a pair of binoculars, several glances, and a scouting trip before the observation could be confirmed (the other seal was eerily yellowish, looking first like a stone, but as stones that move to our understanding do not exist, we had to believe).

Yours truly on a scouting trip approaching a suspicious yellowish object showing signs of lazy motion (note the yellow helmet is needed to protect from threat from above – i.e. ferocious terns protecting their offspring with nosedives aimed at your head).

Also the the juvenile wagtails have emerged into the landscape – seems that the poor bastards have now been kicked out of their nest and thus encouraged to start to live on their own. The little ones are as cute as they come with their clumsy steps, tentative flying spurts, and curious fumbiling around.

That’s all for today. In the evening we will be sure to raise our eyes to the sky: the moon is full. Hope to catch some fine fotos of the event for you!

 

Tuesday 23.7.2013

 

I’ll open today with a remark and a confession. The remark is that the weather has been just superb – beyond description. One word: storm. The confession is that for a lighthouse and storm enthusiast the weather’s been such that in terms of work completed this hasn’t been a good day. The sea and the waves seem to have a captive quality: go outside to run an errand and find yourself coming back after half an hour a little bit cold and not having done what you were supposed to, after having been locked in gazing the dance of the waves.

Indeed, today we needed to check the calendar several times to make sure we weren’t thrown after yesterday through some strange timewarp to October and still remain in July. For the weather has been like I would imagine it would be in a small to medium sized rough autumn weather: dark grey sky, waves as tall as one-storey building, continuous hits of waves to the solid rock even as high as 5 to 7 meters, and moments where the whole of the western and large parts of the eastern areas of the islet fully covered by massive torrents of water. The sauna had its share, with water pouring directly in. Even the grand safety wall sheltering the lighthouse from the north was surpassed today (although only with tips of broken waves). In short: today we witnessed the raw power of direct north wind on Märket, and couldn’t believe our eyes. And for the record, the Märket lighthouse stood the test hands down, standing fast, unwaveringly.

The sauna had its fair share of the weather – no need bring your water with you for bathing

The grand safety wall was surpassed today with touches of broken waves (note also the flooding canal)

Yet, we did manage to get some things done. The firewood-project was completed by packing up the storage room (the allocated space for firewood is now pretty much in use). Petri enhanced the fire safety of the main building by mounting several new fire alarms. We also put some effort in bringing order to the storage room for equipment and tools (this is still quite a mess – more work needed). Obviously, we didn’t paint the hook we prepared yesterday. And Petri made a delicious fish soup! Not quite a bouillabaisse, but very decent, and spicy too.

It’s been an exciting day and now at 10.30 pm I’m exhausted, as having toiled all day long. Time to go to sleep. To end today’s journal entry, here you go: selected shots from today – Märket at storm (sorry, the full moon shot I promised you yesterday, altough a fine one, couldn’t compete with these).

Märket north harbor: definetely cannot land here!

Greetings from Märket

Jouni and Petri (the reduced team of week 29)

 

Wednesday 24.07.2013

 

During the night the wind had calmed and Tuesday’s stormy waves were but a memory on Wednesday morning. The waves had retained only fraction of the strength, and looked as if they were tired from all the fuzz. Pretty soon in the morning also the clouds were gone, making the start of the day as beautiful as a midsummer bride. Summer is back on Märket!

The calming of the weather, and more importantly, the favorable weather forecasts for coming days resulted in decision to change the crew on Saturday, according to the normal schedule. In other words, on Saturday, if things go smoothly, we will be happy with Petri to hand over the guard after serving a double duty, two weeks instead of one.

We were eager with Petri to get back to business and so the day turned out a busy one. The main project was rearranging the storage room for equipment and tools and the storage room just beside the main building. We must say we are happy with the result. You can note the difference by just entering the rooms: there is more space and we are confident that it will be easier now to locate the things you’re after.

Also the hook above the main door was painted: it now has a brand new red-white coloring reflecting the patterns in the wall of the main building. Also the axes needed a bit of shaping up, after having endured countless hits with logs filled with nails. And after the wind had calmed it was also a good opportunity to get rid of burnable waste.

As usual, Märket’s sweet little ponds offered fine refreshement to wash off the weariness from the day’s work.

It is also so that our solitude is at end. Although the change of guard is only on saturday, tomorrow a group of radio amateurs will come to M舐ket to stay for a couple of days. This is a welcome change, as we have shared the islet with Petri since last Friday. With the weather the likelihood of other visitor rises as well so we will be sure with Petri to keep the coffee pans hot!

Greetings from M舐ket

Jouni and Petri (the reduced team of week 29)

 

Thursday 25.07.2013

 

The beautiful weather from yesterday had a comparable continuation today. The wind has practically died altogether down and thus it was time to figure out where our shorts and the sun lotion were hidden, as the sun shone warmly on Märket. However, although the sky has been blue, throughout the day there has been mist in the horizon to all directions so the visibility has been lower (around 16 km).

Indeed, today we got company. As usual, when things start to happen, everything happens at the same time. So as we stood stand by expecting notice from Sefyr on time of the arrival of the group of radio amateurs, a sailing boat emerged from the south side and anchored just outiside the south harbor. As Petri cruised with the rubber boat to offer a ride, two paddlers docked the south harbor. And right then, as the family had landed the islet (eventually with their own boat), Sefyr’s distinctive profile emerged in the horizon with three radio amateurs on board. Be that as it may, it was good to have other people around, otherwise we perhaps would have soon started to talk with the seals.

Two paddlers making their way from Gothenburg to Helsinki, handling their border formalities at Märket

The paddlers, from Germany, had come today morning from Understen lighthouse; they are on a trip from Gothenburg to Helsinki, having started in mid June. These guys even moved along the swedish coastline two days ago in the rough weather. Tough ones! They were keen to document the lighthouse and the trip and also took a small videoclip with myself giving some basic facts on it. So be sure to monitor Deutsche Welle in the near future!

The family of three had come from Marienhamn today, where they had waited for four days for the wind to calm down only to see Märket (!). So it was pleasure to show them, and their dog, the lovely and eager 6 month old Aatos, around. And today, despite the somewhat limited visibility, Märket was again at its best (in another way than it was two days ago in the high winds) with sun beautifully reflecting from the calm sea.

The disembarkation of the group of three radio amateurs went flawlessely. The north harbor was in the early afternoon still a difficult place to land, so Mats, Sefyr’s captain, executed a straightforward docking by guiding the bow of the boat against the rocks some 30 meters east of the north harbor. Then keeping the boat steady with the running engines, it was an easy job to unload the boat through the bow. Pretty soon after arrival Teemu, Thomas, and Rick were busy in assembling their gear, being eager to get as fast as possible to the ether. Märket due to its distintive location on the borderline of Sweden and Finland carries its own radio landcode (OJ). Radio amateurs all over the world thus pride on having made contact here. Indeed, after having their set complete, in the first hours already 350 contacts had been made between Märket and the outside world. Expect heavy traffic in the air in the coming hours!

Later in the evening two more visitors stopped by. It was time to learn some facts about Märket, as the other one of our guests had had a relative working at the lighthouse some decades ago. For example, the nearby pond we use for swims was once a part time home for a junior seal.

Despite the traffic, we did have some time to eat as well. Petri volunteered for doing the dishes, giving me a welcome break from the guiding work done today.

Today was a good practice, as since the weather forecasts look very pretty, the wind remaing as calm as it has been today (max 2 m/s) or even dying out, we expect heavy inbound traffic. So the Märket guard will be ready.

Greetings from Märket

Jouni and Petri (the reduced team of week 29)

 

Friday 26.07.2013

 

The morning greeted us with fog and dead calm wind. The sun shone beautifully through a veil of moist, creating towards the west a faint prism, a rainbow that is. Again we wondered how variable the weather here can be and how lucky we have been to seen so many faces of Märket during a single trip.

The anticipated visitor rush didn’t occur – or almost didn’t occur. Until the early afternoon we sat in the midst of the sea, in isolation accentuated by the fog-veil and still waters. We’d decided to do absolutely nothing, keep our day off so to say, except to guard and to serve visitors. However, as usual, we couldn’t keep our hands off from the work :-). So we engaged ourselves in a minor painting project, preparing planks to be used in constructing the eaves for the sauna.

Luckily for us, as soon as the painting project was ready a shape of a buster emerged through the fog – brave venturers. More action! As we learned the skys around Märket had been clear, but the fog had been persistently covering the islet itself. So it had been easy to get near, and then only called for some act of heroism to do the final strip. And so we had our first visitors today, a group from the direction of Singö.

As the fog began to clear towards the evening, two other groups reached Märket as well. The conditions for landing were perfect with zero waves, the sea all flat. It was again a pleasure to show people around our beloved lighthouse complex. The final group of visitors of the day had relatives that had worked here; now a grandsone of a true lighthouse keeper has seen his grandfather’s past working place. Also the geostash hidden in the islet was located for the first time – where it is, I won’t tell! Look for yourselves ”under the water but not in the water”.

Märket geostash has been located for the first time: Daniel with his group found it and got to be the first to enter his name to the log in the stash.

If things go as planned, we’ll be tomorrow wth Petri on our way home and a fresh new team will take charge of the islet. The forecast for tomorrow is zero wind, so the likelihood of this happening is good. It’s been quite a stay, with an unlikely number of memorable events and unforgettable scenes of nature. Time to move on and return back to reality.

Greetings from M舐ket

Jouni and Petri (the reduced team of week 29)