Saturday 16.6.2007 – New crew

It is quiet. I never thought it could be so quiet on Märket, because of the waves. But the sea has calmed down totally. Now at 7 PM there is no wind. Only the many swallows make noise here. You can here distant singing of the seals and the mourning of the diesel engines of the passing freight ships. How can there be so many of them passing endlessly the gate that Märket and Understen lighthouses form.

We are having a siesta. Last night there was very little sleep for us because of the travelling. Thanks to Holmbergs we got some sleep at their house – which is one of the beautiful houses of the seafarers of Mariehamn from the 50’s.

But back to the morning. All 8 of us were as planned at 7.20 AM in Eckerö pier and we could start with M/S Bävern, Eckerman brothers boat. By us I mean the new lighthouse keepers team, Annastiina, Mira, Janne, my wife Leena and me, Pekka, plus our eager members Markku and Mikko-Oskari and mr. Fellman from Åland.

Weather was good but still getting better. At 9.30 AM we reached Märket. The bearded lighthouse keeper of the last two weeks, Jari, came to take us to shore by the rowing boat. We really honoured the work Jari had done with Hans and Asta. Things were really working on the island.

Jari showed me around on the island, that was very important. Then came the time to say goodbye to Jari, Asta, Vila the dog and the friends. Then we were on our own. Ladies went rowing twice round the island – maybe that was like jogging to Markus, one of our pioneers.

I counted at the most 21 pleasure boats on the Swedish side, and nobody was coming to us – expect Svante and Ulf, retired men from Grisslehamn, who finally broke the magic at 2 PM – again Märket had visitors. Desperetaly I tried to shout and show by hands the place to anchor. Finally I rowed to them and asked to join me. Openly I told not to forget their wallets. Märket needs money!

Svante and Ulf were amazed about what they saw. After their picnic coffee they wanted to walk round the island to see the future landing places. There are several places to land, they noticed. I rowed them back to the boat. When they left I wished the word woud spread around in Grisslehamn and we would get many visitors from there. But where do all the boat owners of Åland hide – as well as those of Rauma and Uusikaupunki!

In a moment we will row to throw our brand new fishing net to the southern side. We don’t have great expectations – more wellcome catch would be an extra salmon from one of those many boats that seems to be fishing salmon on the Swedish territory…

Right now it strikes me to think how different this place can be compared to this quiet, sunny evening, when You can hear the seals sing – or howl beautifully.

Greetings from the whole gang!

 

Sunday 17.6.2007 – Fishing demolition

Today is Sunday. Normally it wouldn’t make any difference out here, but it happens to be Miras and Jannes second wedding day. So it made a difference. Their wedding day was hot and sunny – this wasn’t. The day gave weak showers now and then, but the day was not to wet.

The wind slowly rose to about 7-8 NE, so all this guaranteed that there were no visitors today. Anyway we could row to the only fishing net we had and surprise, there was a flatfish in the 60 mm net! But no wonder, me and Janne have gone net fishing since young kids in Savo…

After yesterday’s slow start we had a lot of energy to work. Leena took care of the cooking today. We made a security check and started doing things to maximise visitors security on the island. Still it must be pointed out that everybody that visits here is here on their own responsibility. So watch Your steps when here.

On the late afternoon coffee break I said, lets make a bit of the wall project today and tear down a small part of the rotten wall. Well, that showed to be so interesting project that finally we tore down insulation from a whole big wall in the middle room of the first floor. Mira and Janne worked hard on it and so did we too. What a way to spend a wedding day!

The wall project was so interesting because there were five wall papers ower each other, then the insulation propably from 1954 and then wooden “pearl pont panel” propably from 1885. It is amazing and nice, but it seems to be rotten. I believe we must tear it down after documentation, but we should replace it with similar new panel. Fortunately Janne is a museum expert – he has already given many good advice.

We finished the work at 7.30 PM and now we will celebrate the wedding anniversary with pancake and maybe with something sparkling. But I am afraid the others won´t allow me to sit at the table before I of go to wash all the dust in the ice cold sea – well hopefully I can add some hot water from the sauna pot to my washing water…

Our friends, the seals disappeared when the wind got harder. Before that there were plenty of them all around the island. Well, of course they will be back.

It is interesting to see what tomorrow will bring – maybe finally some visitors – people You should remember how short the Nordic summer is! Come visit Märket!

Greerings from the Famous Märket Five!

 

Monday 18.6.2007 – Hard work(out)

Weather is about perfect as I write this in the evening looking toward Sweden. In fact the ladys are doing their daily gymnastics in Sweden. Normally Sweden is the “backyard of Märket, but in the evening it is much nicer than Finland!

Mira is leading the gym – easy to understand as she is a ballet dancer. Still she is a hard worker. She was fully working with us men as we finished the tearing down of the middle room in the first floor. The panel walls that we discovered are great, but in bad condition. The floor was a great surprise. Under the plastic carpet we found a great wooden floor made of wide pine or spruce board. It is mostly in good condition.

Believe it or not, again we had no visitors, except some seals. The Finnish frontier guard airplane flew very low above us. A sailing boat from Sweden passed us some half a mile South on its way to Eckerö. What a pity it didn’t visit us.

Every day we feel more and more respect for the old lighthouse building. It is a honour to have the possibility to live in such a great building and to work for it. This is what I feel every time I climb up the stairs that have miraceliously survived all the water that have ran down the inner walls in the recent years.

Soon it is time to decide if we put our single fishing net in the water to catch fish again. Problem is the algae that is tagged in the net knots.

Tomorrow we will have a very interesting day with very special guests. Until then,

greetings from the gym girls and stonemen of Märket…

 

Tuesday 19.6.2007 – Treasures left and visitors came

Uhhuh, what a day it has been here on Märket! It started with an early wake up. We had a quick breakfast before welcoming a boat from Eckerö. There came a big group of people: three civil servants from the local archives, a journalist and a photographer from Sweden, architect couple Rönkönharju plus our local member Håkan Lindberg.

After rowing them here we made a tour with the journalists. Their story will come out in Göteborg Posten later this summer. They visited 6 lighthouses in Finland. So finally we will get some Finnish lighthouses to the great lighthouse series of the GP.

The archive people climbed to the attic and took the treasures of Märket with them. Among them there were original reports of weather, water temperature, working hours etc. By the lighthouse keepers of Märket. Of course it was hard to give them out from Märket, but after all they rested here surpricingly long. The most important Märket diaries were saved in 1976 and rediscovered early this year from the maritime museum of Åland!

Before midday a small boat neared the island. That was researcher Jan Andersson from the Museum of Åland! He was exploring the surroundings of Märket for our common history project of Märket.

We took advantage of Jan’s visit. I took him and our “own” architect Tapio Rönkönharju to the first floor to go through the rooms. A new theory rose about the surfaces: the wooden panels on the walls were propably added to the walls after some years of living here. Then after some years maybe before first world war the insulation was added above the wood panel. Then some 4-5 wall papers were added during the years.

Our judgement was cruel: nothing can be saved because of the moisture and the damage it has caused. All surfaced must be taken off. Our dear shop will be removed tomorrow. All operations must be moved to second floor.

The visitors left around midday. The weather got just better and now in the evening the wind is near to zero. The gentle sunshine gives still warm. The weather is perfect but there are no leisure boats travelling in the horizon. Just none! Maybe they all choose the costal routes.

The seals came and went. In the evening we admired one enjoying the sun just 15 meters away. They didn’t seem to care about us.

We plan to follow the sunset again from the beautiful Swedish cliffs. Our achitect Tapio went just jogging (he and his wife Raila will camp in a tiny tent) and the ladies joined by Raila are doing the gym.

What an evening it is! Best wishes from a very lucky and happy Seven!

 

Wednesday 20.6.2007 – Keeping the monument alive

Märket is like no other place in Finland. If these buildings didn’t exist, somebody should build them on this island. Except that no one would. So lets keep this monument alive. It is a place where you can see open sea all around the horizon.

We have already got our lotto price. That was having our archtect Tapio here this week right at the crucial moment. He left today but during those 26 hours he spent here were a lot. Yesterdays analysis with Jan and the terrible findings in the evening. Today we continued by opening the first floor’s wooden floors. They were in such a bad shape that all must be removed.

Before leaving us Tapio gave good advice how to continue the work. That is crucial. We continued immediadly after he left. The waste piles are getting high!

Yesterday night it was difficult to go to sleep. The sea calmed down nearly totally. The sunset was beautiful, but after that the colours got even more beautiful.

The morning was already warm. No wind. The seals started to gather on the nearest Swedish cliff some 70 metres from Märket. At 2 PM we counted some 80 of them from the lighthouse tower!

A boat from Eckerö picked up Rönkönharjus just before a short Southern storm rose. It warm and beautiful. We admired it during the lunch time. I watched the seals fighting against the waves on that small cliff through the video lens. It was amazing. I can’t imagine any better place to observe them than the Märket tower. I welcome You all seal fans here!

By the way the man from Eckerö brought us some peat to fight against the minor oil leak from the old diesel engines. That worked!

The evening has come and it’s soon time for the evening wash. If we only had sauna here this would be a heaven!
My wife and me are just moving to the legendary Karlbergs hut. It is said to have very good ventilation… It is no use trying to heat it. Still we are very grateful to the lighthouse keeper Roland Karlberg who built it in the forties.

It is raining a bit now and then, but never the less we wouln’t like to be anywhere else right now.

Greetings, the Märket Five

 

Thursday 21.6.2007 – Finally, guests

The midsummer is coming. You can feel that in many ways here in Åland where midsummer is a very big feast. For example our webmaster is going for a holiday… So this is the last time this team reports “live” from Märket. Next report will be in the net on Sunday midday.

Today the plan was very clear. First to empty the corner room of the first floor.

After mornings and middays heavy work we ate Leenas simple but so delicious tuna pasta. The tuna was from the tin…

During the lunch it was there! The first leisure boat from Åland/Finland during our shift! It came curiously to the southern side of the island. I started to row to the boat before it would run away. The people omboard where family Pajunen and Sahi from Helsinki just next to light ship Relandersgrund.

The family stayed here for more than 2 hours. They seemed to enjoy the place and what they saw (even one seal showed up for the children who had waited exactly that). For our team it was a great experience and a good practise. We are really happy that we could experience the visit. They also supported our project by buing Märket stuff and by doing the guided tour (adults 5 euros).

We have now less than two days left here. It has been unforgettable time for all of us. We have also became friends. I am sure we wil gather together sometime to watch videos and photos of this experience.

Fun is one thing but saving the buildings here is another ad much more important. After that will be done some day, many more people can experience this quite unique island.

You will here from us on Sunday, so it is not yet time for goodbyes. We will have unforgettable midsummer here and we wish You too a joyful midsummer!

The Märket Midsummer Team

From the webmaster: Happy holiday to all of you. We will be back sunday night with a new report. Be careful and stay safe!

 

Friday 22.6.2007 & Saturday 23.6.2007 – The Midsummer

This was The Big Midsummer Eve. We started it with hard work. Mira and Janne did the inevitable, they emptied the great BIOLAN bio toilet, that makes ready-to-use soil in just two weeks. That was put aside and the earlier part was taken in use. We decided to fill some wholes in the cliff on the western side with this product to make more flowers grow there, in our “garden”. Mira transferred some flowers to the new spots. That was a great way to reuse the waste. The garden was in the Swedish side – nothing grows on the Finnish side because of the waves.

Mira and Janne did also another job with flowers. They discovered a beautiful wallpaper in the “office” room that we had emptied of all material. We decided to document the room carefully before the next shift will take it down.

The others made preparations for the midsummer celebration. When we were ready and having a break in the sunny afternoon, we heard a big noise coming closer from the east. It was a helicopter, but this time it wasn´t American millionaire but the Finnish Frontier Guards Super Puma. It stopped above Märket and stayed at one spot for some minutes. It didn´t land but turned back. Maybe it had come to check the size of our midsummer fire that we had constructed!

But it was not yet time to light the fire. We moved the dining table to the Swedish cliffs, to the most beautiful spot on the island. The sea was still, and the weather was perfect. There we had our delicious Midsummer meal that Leena had prepared. It was one of the most unforgettable meals of our lives!

At 22.40 PM it was time to light the midsummer fire that Janne and the women had well prepared of the wood left of the construction waste. We all come from parts of Finland where Midsummer fire is common. But as it is not common in Åland or Sweden, we saw no other fires in the horizon!

The fire was burned safely and without harming the cliffs. The fire was over at 2 AM. Mira, Janne and Annastiina decided to sleep outside on the cliffs! It was a gentle night. But when they woke up the wind was rising. After the breakfast we started to pack our things for the change of shifts that was due to take place in the afternoon.

The waves came from all directions as they often do on Märket. We found one possible place to land with the rowing boat. We carried the rowing boat there and practised the operation. It went well. At 3 PM we decided to try the operation with Granberg. His boat arrived at 5 PM, he anchored and we rowed the people ashore. There was five tourists and four new keepers.

We guided our own people and the visitors round the island. Then it was time for us and for the visitors to leave the island. The wind had rosen and Granberg decided to pick us directly from the Northern cliffs. It went well. We think he is a master in his job.

We left Märket and watched it getting smaller and smaller in the horizon. We didn´t cry. We were happy of what Märket gave us in one week and of the new friends we got. We hope the new shift will feel the same after their week.

This was the last remark from the Märket Five!