Saturday 18.7.2015
Shifting day, new volunteers landed to the Märket. The wind started to blow and it was rainy grey day – but beautiful like all days here.
Anyway, it was quit an active day – safety instructions, work lists, guides for visitors – all checked. We did not have any visitors today due to hard wind and rain.
It was nice to notice that Finnish Lighthouse Society is recycling and sorting here very well and not so easy circumstances. We also try to minimize food garbage, delicious example is this Virpi´s excellent dessert. Yam!
Sunday 19.7.2015
Morning dawned very windy and cloudy. After breakfast we did different indoor works like updating guide materials, planning new guide signs and cleaning up sauna. We also study Märket history på svenska 🙂
During the day the wind began to calm down and the sun started shining. We moved to outdoor works but the waves was still so high that visitors could no came here. Kirsti is chef during this week and here (picture 3) she cooked lunch for us.
The flora of Märket is typical for small rocky islands: tex Tripleurospermum maritimum ssp. Maritimum, Rumex crispus, Sagina nodosa, Xanthoria parietina (specify of species can be questioned)
Monday 20.7.2015
Nice weather and not so windy! In the morning we did all kind of works and afternoon we got visitors from diving vessel.
Divers and their crew were from H2O diving club and they have been in many ship wrecks here – which are sufficient enough in this rocky area.
In the east side of Märket can be found e.g. Belliver’s wreck. This steamship sunk in 1911 but it was found not until 2009.
This group picture was taken in the front of the lighthouse wall. This wall was built in 1887 to protect the lighthouse against north winds and ice.
Tuesday 21.7.2015
Quite a sunny morning for the day and the wind was in favour for the visitors. Mats brought a group of guests in the morning and right after that, another group came with Bengt. Bengt told us that this summer has been the windiest he can remember for years.
Ella, Päivi and Janne Rauvo as well as Jura and Saida Männistö were visiting Märket for the first time. Girls were really excited about the lighthouse and they would have wanted to stay for sleep over 🙂
Henrik Johansson and his mother Eva were also on Märket for the first time. Henrik had organized the trip as a surprise for his mother and she heard where they were going only 10 minutes before leaving Käringsund in Åland.
The international group that came in Bengt’s boat, had really happy summer feelings and we also got our share of the mood.
In the afternoon the wind started blowing again and it started raining. We spent the rest of the day continuing our tasks. The biggest one of those was to try to fix the partly stuck chimney of a fireplace in the cellar. Ari, Kaija-Riitta and Eevis took care of that and that’s something we still need to continue tomorrow.
Wednesday 22.7.2015
The wind was still pretty hard but the weather was sunny. Our first visitors came before midday. A group of people from Helsinki, Turku and Lahti came to see the Märket lighthouse. Also the youngest visitors, Markus (1,5 years) and Johan (3 years) Hollström climbed all the way up to the tower of the lighthouse.
In the afternoon it was again time to continue some renovation. Kirsti removed plaster from the rock with machine hammer.
Before the evening came, we saw a boat in the horizon and guessed that we were going to have some more guests. Boat’s name was Minnaliisa II and from there we got a nice group of guests. In addition of exploring Märket, the teenagers also had new experience in sending a post card by mail and licking an old fashioned stamp. 🙂
In the evening we also were surprised to see two kayaks getting closer ashore. Johanna Gottlander and Jan van Kerchhoven had been paddling all the way from Grisslehamn to Understen and then over the sea to Finnish side and Märket. This was already their 5th day on the sea.
Today we also saw a few seals on the cliffs nearby, but they’re still too shy to come to visit us on Märket.
23.7.2015 Thursday
The two young paddlers, Jan and Johanna had stayed overnight on Märket by sleeping in their tent and after breakfast we said good bye to them and wished a safe journey towards Åland. We were happy to notice that the wind was in favor for them.
Early in the morning Ari, Kaija-Riitta and Virpi continued the cleaning and fixing of the stuck chimney while Mira and Kirsti were cleaning the old plaster from the rocks. No visitors today.
We have seen a variety of the birds on the island. Some example within typical species: Common Eider, Black Guillemot, Cormorant, Common Stern, House Martin, White Wagtail, Oystercatcher. Few days go arrived flog of birds like Dunlins, Ruddy Turnstones and Curlew sandpipers.
In the beginning of the week we told about the Hooded Crow that named Heikki. He´s now disappeared and a wild guess would be that he was evicted by Sterns.
Today we also saw quite a bob of seals. They were enjoying sunshine on the cliffs nearby. We still keep hoping that they´d come to Märket.
Friday 24.7.2015
Last day of our team on Märket. Sun rose into a windy morning and we decided to start working since figuring out that there’d be no visitors before midday and wind calming down. Mira and Virpi washed some carpets and wooden floor crids while Ari, Kaija-Riitta and Eevis were putting together scaffolding for the coming chimney plastering project. Our chef Kirsti did a thorough cleaning in the kitchen.
Last tasks were finished after lunch and photos shared and then it was the time to heat up the sauna. The week on Märket has gone so fast that you almost didn’t even notice it passing by. We saw a lot of different birds and finally decided to do a short boat trip to say hello to the seals as well. Those funny fellows were almost as interested in us as we were in them.
Finally just to mention, as most of you already know, there’s always a lot of ships passing by Märket and some of us were also spotting those. During one week, we were able to see ships from 15 different nationalities. The most exotic ones were probably Antigua-Babuda, Marshall Islands and Faroe Islands.
Ari, Kirsti, Kaija-Riitta, Mira, Virpi and Eevis will be heading toward mainland tomorrow. Thank you Märket for treating us well, we hope that we’ll meet again!
