Saturday 4.7.2015
The sun shined nearly from the cloudless blue sky. The journey started with the water tanks and Jake, the one who has been at Märket many times, saw them being filled up for the first time ever.
Mats’ new boat took us fast to the lighthouse where the last week’s crew already waited us to arrive. Veera and Fred are the first timers at Märket and luckily for them, especially for Veera, the sea was friendly.
The modern communication system at the new boat.
First there was the duties to take care of and then the eager group took a tour around the lighthouse.
The ”angry birds” bid us welcome…
Minna was on duty at the kitchen and soon we had a very gourmet meal on our plates. The cooking wasn’t easy task because of the broken stove, so Fred and Minna decided to use the grill for the beef. The stove was then fixed by our very handy boys after the meal.
The day continued with a blue sky and warm weather. Despite the sunshine there weren’t any visitors.
Sunday 5.7.2015
The day started at 4.11 a.m. with a thunder, although Fred was the only one waking up for the noise. After the storm there’s always calm so, luckily the weather wasn’t rainy when the rest of the crew woke up.
First, there were some tasks to do. Girls started to renovate the door by scraping the old and still bit wet paint away and boys were working with the south wall.
Then in the afternoon there was a sailboat at the horizon heading towards Märket. Finally some visitors!
Jake and Fred took the rubber boat and brought the visitors to the island. Of course there had to be one hand up because of the angry birds.
Veera and Fred took the visitors from Espoo around the lighthouse. Heikki, Marja and their grandson Emil were impressed by the work the Society has done at the lighthouse.
After the work and visitors there was some time to chill out and heat up the sauna.
Monday 6.7.2015
The morning started with a very windy weather. The sun was shining somewhere behind the greyish clouds.
Minna made us a very heavy and good breakfast with last evening’s potato pancakes and some rice porridge. It was good because Veera was used to eat at least five times a day, and there was some plastering to do at the warehouse’s south wall.
Plastering was team work and Jake, Fred and Veera made an effort to make the wall look good.
The day continued as windy as it started and the temperature stayed around +15 degree Celsius.
After the late lunch the weather forecast said that there would be rain later so we started to do some tasks inside. There would be no use to do the plastering if the rain washes it all away.
The wooden front door was carried inside to the kitchen because it was the driest place of the whole island.
The rain started at 2 pm and the wind was blowing over 10 m/s.
Boys were laughing at the photography sessions during the weekend, because Veera and Minna were in turns lying somewhere on the rocks, or the terrace, trying to capture some sights and happenings from the frog perspective.
The tasks inside were inventory of the food storage and Minna found some a bit aged food from the cellar, the cabbage was used for supper though. Veera arranged the shop merchandise and counted the shirts brought from the lands.
The rainy day was then spent inside, but at least we got to do half of the wall plastering during the day.
Tuesday 7.7.2015
The wind kept blowing whole night and the temperature dropped under +15 degrees Celsius. The task list came to Jake’s e-mail and the crew started to do what was given. Unfortunately the heavy rain on Monday did some damage for the plastering, so the wall must be fixed, but it couldn’t be done today because of the wind and very moist weather.
Then after the midday the weather got clearer, but the wind kept going.
The lighthouse floor’s rain drainage pipes were cleaned. After Katja’s phone call Minna took care of the waste as instructed.
Despite the wind, the boys got up to the sauna’s roof to look up if there’s a need for fixing.
We planned carefully where to take the group picture so we decided to sit on the stairs.
The terns were obviously enjoying themselves while surfing with the wind and some common eiders (Somateria mollisima, fin. haahka) landed to the island to swim in the calmer waters between the rocks.
The windy day ended with some Märket puzzle and a nice supper. We hope that the weather will be sunnier and the forecast changes.
Wednesday 8.7.2015
The last evening was clear and of course some pictures were taken before going to bed. The house pets were also enjoying the night outside.
The morning started with a rush when Mats called at 9 a.m. that he is coming with some quests. There were five visitors with him and they landed to the east harbour because it was the safest place to land.
The visitors were a couple from Turku and a lady from Mariehamn with his son and his girlfriend from Helsinki.
Up in the lighthouse tower we had a chance to take some photos because the wind wasn’t blowing so hard as previous day and it started to rain after the quests left. Mats came with to tell about the tower history.
Then we had a short discussion with Mats about the solar panels, which are going to come next week. Plans for building the scaffolding for the upcoming installation were crushed because of the rain.
Girls moved the wooden door to the radio amateurs’ room and started to grind the surface, which will be painted with the base colour. The door had dried in the kitchen and the work could be continued inside. Rainy day well spent with some nice paintwork.
Good night from Märket!
Thursday 9.7.2015
The weather forecast promised a thunderstorm, which was a no show during the night, there was a sun when the crew woke up. Wednesday was however very versatile day with the weather; there was a bright whole rainbow in the sky in the evening and Jake climbed up to the rooftops to take a picture of it.
The sky was full of clouds and the weather kept changing between mild rain and a bit sunshine.
The first parts of the scaffolding for the solar panels were built by Jake, Fred and Veera during the Wednesday evening when the weather suddenly cleared. The building process continued in the morning.
We also cleaned the rocks behind the warehouse and removed the scaffolding there to be used for the upcoming solar panel set-up. The plastering worksite was cleaned by Fred and Jake.
Veera and Minna then removed some of the plaster from the rocks. It is a very slow process, but somehow a very relaxing task.
The scaffolding was done as high as we could and tied down to the stair railings. Now the wind can blow as hard as it wants, the scaffolding will stand!
The rain started to pour again after 5.30 pm and the indoors called the crew.
Luckily the rain stopped after an hour and the evening could be spent also outside.
Friday 10.7.2015
The day started with a sun! First the scaffolding was built further on.
There was a sailing boat in the horizon heading towards Märket with its sails up. Very impressive. Then the visitors paddled with their small rubber boat into the island and Jake went to get the rest of the group with Märket’s own boat.
The visitors were Pekka with his son Veikka and daughter Alma and Kare who’s father owned the sailing boat. Veera took them around the lighthouse and they stopped in for a coffee as well.
And then it was already lunchtime. Lunch was eaten at the new terrace in front of the sauna.
In the middle of the lunch we saw a diver’s boat near the buoy. Two divers from Mariehamn, Björn and Tomas, came to have their lunch at the island. Fred chatted with them and they took a tour around the lighthouse eventhough they’d been here many times. They also told that they were looking for the ship that sinked with Finnish children during the WWII. The ship called Aura was owned by the president Risto Ryti and it was said to lie somewhere 360 degrees from Märket.
There were also new friends on the island. Some shorebirds came to say hello next to warehouse.
The sun deciced to hide behind the clouds and wind was getting stronger. It seemed that the wind will get very strong during the evening and night. Mats won’t come on Saturday because of the strong Northern wind so Minna’s journey back home will start on Sunday or Monday at latest.
Because it’s Friday the sauna will be the end of the evening.
Saturday 11.7.2015
No new crew members or radio amateurs coming this Saturday. The wind kept blowing whole night and the waves swiped over the Northern rocks. The wind was blowing with 13 m/s force from the North. The Lighthouse Society’s flag was taken down because of the wind and it got a new flagpole…
The pictures can’t tell how much Poseidon is raging around the lighthouse right now.
Mats called around midday and asked about the weather conditions. We were hopeful to get the next shift here on Sunday, but the weather forecast still warned about the strong wind for the Sunday midday.
While waiting for the wind calm down the crew cleaned up the indoors and sauna. Minna also painted a thin second layer for the wooden door.
In the late afternoon the wind had calmed down so that the ”3rd floor” could be built for the scaffolding. One of the corner pillars had to be made of wood so that we got the structure closer to the engine room’s wall where the solar panels will be installed.
We found a baby next to our scaffolding work site. We decided to call it ”Lenni Lokinpoikanen”. The seagull didn’t look healthy, so tomorrow we might find a dead baby seagull between the rocks. There was a mom and two of Lenni’s siblings on the other side of the lighthouse, but it seemed that Lenni was sick and won’t join them anymore.
The wind was still blowing, but not so hard as before. Mats will have a chance to get here on Sunday morning.
Sunny and windy Saturday evening greetings from Märket!
