Week 32: Pentti, Minna, Väinö and Marita

 

Saturday 03.08.2013

 

This week’s crew, alias Pentti, Minna, Väinö and myself, had decided that it might be best to arrive to Maarianhamina already on Friday and spend the night in Eckerö so on Saturday morning we would be well rested for the journey to Märket. Luckily there are several guest houses Eckerö so that was easy to arrange.

It was decided that Pentti would pick up this week’s groceries from Hugo’s shop, and the rest of us would just arrive on Mats’s boat early enough to assist in loading the boat. Along with the crew there were four visitors, members of Majakkaseura, on the boat.

The weather was perfect for a boat ride as the sun shone and the sea was quite calm. When we arrived to Märket, the visitors were given a guided tour, which Väinö and I attended as well. I am a first timer here and Väinö would be this week’s tour guide, so we both needed to get to know the place properly.

While we were on tour, Pentti was busy loading Mats’s boat with parts of the scaffolding that were used for building the new sauna, and now needed returning to Turun Ammattikorkeakoulu that had kindly lent them to us. Minna busied herself with arranging the groceries and getting to know the kitchen.

While Mats’s boat was getting ready to leave with last week’s crew, we already had a Swedish couple on a sailboat waiting to land there. Also a small motorboat had arrived with more visitors so Väinö had to start his guiding job immediately. He did it with the help of the house manual and I’d say that Sandra, Christer, Mats, Jenny, Alva, Annika and the Swedish couple were happy enough with him!

After all this buzz it was our turn to settle down on Märket which we did with the help of some vegetable soup Minna made. We also had a nice walk around the island. During the day the wind got a lot stronger so no more visitors arrived. And the day being Saturday, it was a must to bathe in the sauna on the yard!

 

Sunday 04.08.2013

 

Sunday started a bit rainy but the weather cleared well before noon. Despite the sun there was a bit of wind so maybe that’s what kept tourists away today. However, we did see several cargo vessels passing by.

We had a nightly visitor though, as a I saw a frog in the hall in the early morning. We had closed the door before going to bed but obviously the wind had opened it. How the frog had come there, I have no idea, as the metal stairs are not very nice under human bare feet and frog’s feet are smaller.

After breakfast it was time start the day’s chores. Last week’s crew reported that the compost didn’t work properly so Pentti and Väinö set out to wake up the bacteria with the help of warm water with some chemical added to it. Pentti also stirred the contents of the compost with a metal stick and the smell was nasty.

Filling up some buckets with sea water for doing the dishes etc. was a much nicer task.

Meanwhile Minna was equally busy in the kitchen cooking food, making pancakes and causing several fire alarms with all the steam of frying.

Later in the afternoon Pentti and Väinö fastened up some Emergency Exit signs on the second and third floor of the lighthouse. Safety is an important issue here, both for the tourists and the crew. Nobody wants to fall head first to the rocks!

In the evening Väinö lit fire in the stoves for the bedrooms and we started planning for the next day. There are some windowframes that need painting and other stuff to do, so we’ll need to find the necessary tools for the jobs.

 

Monday 05.08.2013

 

Today’s weather’s been nice and sunny but there’s still some wind. No visitors today, although during lunchtime we saw a motorboat approaching Märket from the Swedish coast. They didn’t come to land but they only made a tour around the island and stayed a while near the islet where seals often rest.

The theme for this morning was rubbish, literally. Pentti and Väinö continued to try and wake up the compost by pouring warm water in it and again stirring the contents. Meanwhile I cleaned away bits and pieces of rusty nails and stuff from the rocks round the barrel which is used for burning rubbish.

In between mealtimes Minna started to scrape old paint off the shop’s window frame and to make the task easier, she took off one of the inner windows.

In the afternoon the restoration of the windows continued. Minna went on with the shop window and Väinö started to put masking tape around the dining room windows to protect them during painting the frames.

In the evening it was time to relax by playing cards.

 

Tuesday 6.8.2013

 

The weather’s been a bit unstable today. There was a bit of mist before noon but it soon cleared away as the wind got stronger. In the evening the wind was about 10 metres per second and water made foamy wave crests as it hit the rocks.

In the afternoon we saw a sailing boat approaching and for a while it seemed like it was going to come here but it sailed past Märket, so today was again a day without visitors.

Pentti painted a new coat of paint on the dining room’s window frames and also on the downstairs bedroom’s window frames. The seal’s had to be taken away from the windows to make painting easier so next night Minna and I will hear the wind loud and clear.

Scraping old paint off the shop’s window frame has become a joint effort for Minna and me, as I had a go at it in the morning and Minna continued in the afternoon. There are several layers of old paint so the job takes time and patience.

 

Wednesday 7.8.2013

 

This morning the weather was cloudy and there was also a bit of rain. Despite the weather we had a group of visitors, eleven all in all, coming here in Mats’s boat. Some of them were from Finnish mainland and some were from Ahvenanmaa, so a mixture of Finnish, Swedish and English was spoken when Väinö gave them a guided tour. Among the visitors there was a man named Karl, who had actually worked here when the lighthouse was manned, and also there were children and grandchildren of a former lighthouse keeper.

The shop’s window frames are now clean of old paint and ready to be painted again. Hopefully tomorrow the weather isn’t so wet that it would interfere with the painting.

Yesterday we got a flock of Common Terns to stay at the islet and they been flying around here. In the afternoon the weather started to clear and Minna went over to Modersmagen to swim a bit but the birds weren’t too happy with that. Luckily they didn’t try to attack but only made a nasty sound.

 

Thursday 8.8.2013

 

This morning the weather was lovely and it was nice to do some painting work by open windows, so both the shop’s and the radio amateur’s room’s window frames got a layer of white primer. Meanwhile Minna was equally busy painting some skirting boards for the radio amateur’s room.

Pentti continued his safety agenda with checking the positions of the fire-extinguishers and he decided to change the places of some, but it was easier said than done. This kind of an old building can offer surprises when trying to install something as the material of the walls may not be what it looks like.

In the afternoon we had a go at identifying birds. We saw one flying white-tailed eagle, some oystercatchers and even one black guillemot. A more distressing sight was spotting five dead female common eiders around the rocks which all looked like they’d died recently. We sent a message of the dead common eiders to the Ministry of Environment so maybe they can offer us an explanation of the birds’ fate?

Later in the afternoon the wind got a lot stronger so I assisted Pentti in taking away the fenders from the harbours so the waves wouldn’t tear them off.

The evening was windy and it started to rain as well.

 

Friday 9.8.2013

 

Today’s weather’s been a bit rainy all through the day, which has rather dictated the schedule. Doing the dishes is a lot nicer without rain!

It’s been too humid to do any painting work today, so mostly we’ve been arranging places to welcome next week’s crew like putting back windows that were taken away to make painting easier.

We had an answer to our message of the dead common eiders from the environmental authorities. They thanked about the message but didn’t think that at the moment it would be necessary to send a bird to be examined closer. If there are more observations like this, then it might be necessary do an autopsy for a bird.

In the evening it was time to heat the sauna, and after that Minna served us a tradional sauna-supper of fried sausages.

The week’s gone fast and has been an interesting experience. I kind of expected a lot more isolated feeling here. but seeing the Understen lighthouse’s lights in the evenings has felt like there’s a neighbour I could just drop in to say hello.

Greeting from Pentti, Minna, Väinö and Marita