150809 A Harsh Start

 

We woke up at three in the morning in the common sleeping room on the ferry, when an intruder was searching our stuff. As I leapt out of my sleeping bag yelling at the thief I soon found out my sleepy legs were unable the catch the thief. After a lot of cursing and swearing, however, we soon found out that most of our belongings still were ours and that the lute of the petty thief only consisted of Viivi’s phone and my pipe tobacco, which I really had looked forward to enjoy together with the view.

Out of the fear of more inconvenient incidents we did not get any sleep until we got off at Mariehamn where we then waited three hours for our ride to Eckerö. When the kind and lovely car driver Yvonne picked us up our luck finally changed. The early car ride through sleepy yet beautiful Åland cheered us up and before the equally lovely and kind, yet another Yvonne and her family picked us up for the boat ride to Märket, we even got ourselves half an hour of sleep in the morning sunshine.

Enjyoing the views of archipelago in the comfortable yet bumpy boat, the ride seemed quite short and soon we could see the silhouette of our destination. As we approached Märket the wind speed was already rising and the chance of us having any tourists on our first day where getting slim, but we still managed to land without problems and were welcomed by the lighthouse guards we were to replace.

Fifteen minutes after we arrived, we found ourselves – stunned but pleased – welcoming twenty one firemen from the Eckerö voluntary fire brigade. They were on their annual picnic and had chosen Märket as their target.

At that point our energy resources where quite low, but since firemen are well known for their high morale and helpful spirit we actually had lots of help and got to enjoy their cheery mood and hotdogs (that is, I got, as Viivi is a vegetarian). After the firemen left leaving us happy yet tired we finally got to settle down in the lighthouse that now is to be our home for the next week.

Hugs and kisses – Jonas

 

160809 The International Lighthouse Day

 

As the forecast was confirmed by our bedroom view of waves growing larger and larger, we went to sleep excited about the rough weather that was promised for this morning. Deep was our confusion when we woke up to find the whole north shore of Märket calm as a Hindu cow.

After getting out of the bed we found the weather forecast was right anyway, only that the wind had changed so the waves where now hitting the south side instead of the north as they had when we went to sleep. Being quite sure that no tourists would be able to get onshore as the wind was strong, we decided to eat our breakfast and then start to explore our surroundings and deal with the everyday life of a lighthouse guard.

Although the wind was stronger than the day before the sun was shining and the air was warm. And despite working, we often found ourselves standing and gazing at the sea for several minutes, completely forgetting what we where doing for that moment.

Today is also the international lighthouse day. For the celebration we have been searching for treasures that we plan to send in a bottle tonight together with a secret letter, curious to see if it goes somewhere.

Now the wind is gaining force again so unfortunately we have to eat our supper indoors. But since it is the international lighthouse day we have decided to make it a proper one with pancaces for dessert.

You should celebrate it too!

Jonas & Viivi

 

170809 Masonory And Waves

 

The waves caught the bottle mail as I wish i would have caught the thief that stole my precious pipe tobacco. As the bottle in a steady pace slowly floated north we went to sleep.

When we woke up the weather was still quite the same as yesterday, only that recognizing the wind direction now was a bit confuzing as it seemed to be blowing from all directions at the same time. As the previous day had been the international lighthouse day and we had allowed ourselves more leizure time than planned, we decided to try to get some more work done despite the wonderful sunshine and warm (yet windy) air.

Viivi soon proved to be an exellent mason as she splattered the plaster over the walls and we got a lot more work done than I would have imagined we would.

Now we’re watching the rainclouds gather while enjoying our soup and hope that they will have come and gone before tomorrow morning. Hopefully we will have more sunny beautiful days though it seems a bit sceptical at the moment.

 

180809 Enjoying Märket Zoo

 

We woke up to a morning of equal amounts of sunshine and clouds. Nothing was workwise planned for the day so we decided to have a quiet morning and enjoy the weather. In the afternoon however we saw rainclouds gather in the horizon so we thought it was best to get busy as we still could.

Most of our previous meals had been prepared indoors and as we didn’t know how long it would rain once it was to start we brought out the barbeque from the storage room.

As Viivi then started to prepare the delicious meal I thought this would be a good time to deal with some of the dirty work. Both the compost and the outhouse had started to fill up so bravely I grabbed the shovel and cleared some of what gathers in those kinds of boxes.

Then I started to spread it as fertilizer to the little treekind plants and bushes that was able to withstand the rough conditions of our rocky island.

By then the meal was ready and as the rainclouds approached we enjoyed the last moments of sunshine eating a great meal consisting of different vegetables and barbequed cheese. As a grande finale of the dinner Viivi asked me what the big thing flying over us was and we could happily witness our first Sea Eagle flying over Märket. The magnificent bird slowly flew over Märket towards a smaller rock on the northwest side. On the way it was distracted by some seagulls after which it landed past our view.

As we unsuccesfully continued to search for the Sea Eagle with our binoculars we witnessed another pleasent archipelago view. In the water by the rock some ten seals where enjoying their afternoon bath and slowly started to climb the rock to dry up before the rain.

The visitor of the day (and the only one) was a tiny white and brown bird that came through the door but tried to leave out the closed window. I noticed it soon enough and brought it out so that it didn’t harm itself. We were later searching it from the bird book but did not recognize it. Do you know what kind of bird is this?

The sky is turning from light blue to light grey as the rain sweeps over Märket. Waves are low and tender on the South side but according to the weather report we’re to be expected thunder and strong wind. Candle lights make kitchen cosy as we’re reading Pappan och havet (Moomin Dad and the Sea by Tove Jansson) aloud.

 

190809 Märket Surprices Again

 

Right after we sent the blog update yesterday the weather got severely worse and we got to experience horizontal rain. For quite some time we just walked around our small rock island whatching rain, leaning against the wind and imagining how it must feel like when a proper, 25m/s storm hits Märket.

After some time when we started to get wet and tired we went indoors to listen to the growing wind, waiting to see what weather the next day would bring. In the morning the sky was clear and even though the wind wasn´t as strong as in the night the waves where still as large. In beautiful sunshine we walked again across the island gazing at the waves.

Because of the large waves and rain we found that several small ponds of water had been formed in the night and also a small river that cut the island in half. As more waves came in over the island they filled up again forming small rivers and waterfalls between them.

As the views of Märket tend to do we forgot ourselves for a while until we decided to do some work again. Rarely does doing dishes feel as nice as when you can do them in front of such a view as the weather now offered us.

Now in the moment I´m writing this we’re enjoying our evening snack in the tower, whatching seals from a far, waiting for the waves to calm down for tomorrow as we might be expecting visitors.

 

200809 An Unexpected Visit

 

When I was about to start writing this report about the calm day of ours I all of a sudden heard Viivi yelling of excitment. When I tried to figure out what it was about I heard the sound of the helicopter myself and we ran out to whatch it land.

Earlier we had been informed that tomorrow we would have a visit from the Finnish meteorological institute who were to come and service their equipment so when they then did show up today we were really taken by surprise.

After spending the whole week completely by ourselves it felt really strange to now see any proof of civilisation. Also as they came in a frontier guard helicopter we weren’t sure who they where until the helicopter had left them and it was quiet enough to hear what they were saying. They started unpacking all their high-tech weather gadgets.

Apparently they do these kind of check-ups at least once a year and this time they had good reason as a windspeed sensor was broke, probably by a bird, and had to be changed. The two weather guys Harry and Jonas worked really effectivily and where also very happy to answer all our dumb questions about their gadgets and watchamacallits.

As the pleasent visit was quite late and this report should have been handed in an hour ago. I unfortunately have to continue tomorrow and tell you about seals and more gadgets and all the other things that we have experienced the last hours.

 

210809 Last Days At Märket

 

Yesterday was so eventful that I have to continue to write about it for a bit. So, as we were enjoying tea and talking with the weather guys Harry and Jonas we heard the helicopter coming, this time expectedly though. Again we rushed outside to see the landing but as we where standing whatching the helicopter Jonas all of a sudden yelled SEAL! And there it was, a small, probably this spring’s babyseal was in wild terror climbing out of a small pond of water just next to where the helicopter was about to land.

Luckily the helicopter pilot must have noticed it and changed his spot some 30 meters north and the seal calmed down a bit. Anyway, the seal was still quite chocked of all the excitement and couldn´t really make up it´s mind wheater to climb out the pond or just dive as deep as it could in it and hide.

Soon the helicopter left and the seal calmed down enough so that we could observe one another. Allready when we first saw the seal we had stood back to give it space so it could leave the pond for the sea. Now however it just steared at us for a long time, having a swim around in the pond in between, as to show us how a good swimmer it was.

After a while it started to crawl towards the sea in what to me looked like the most pathetic way of moving. Not that I don´t like seals but they do look very silly when they move on land. When it reached the sea and dived in we thought we had seen the last of it but a few meters from the shore it popped up again and continued staring at us, then diving a bit just to pop up again.

This is now, depending on the weather, maybe our last day at Märket. At the moment we are standing inside the glass top of the lighthouse as the weather guys were kind to leave it open for us, looking at the surf waves coming in from the south. Soon the light will go on and it will be time for us to go down stairs to enjoy a evening snack before bed.

 

220809 Last Day Again

 

The wind was still strong when we woke up and togheter with the afterwaves from yesterday it seemed quite hopeless that anyone would be able to pick us up. However when we talked with Yvonne who would arrange the pick-up we heard that it might be a rescue boat that could take stronger weather that would pick us up and that there still was a chance for later in the day.

So, we packed all our belongings, cleaned the house and did the dishes just in case. After some hours the wind was only getting worse and soon also Yvonne called and confirmed our suspisions. We were to stay on Märket for still a day.

After a short feeling of disappointment for having to unpack again we were actually really pleased as we have come to feel quite at home here.

So as the weather was moist we light a fire in the fireplace, read some books and again enjoyed one last delicious supper that Viivi made from the last goodies we had in the cupboard.

Goodnight again.