Peace on Earth and on Märket! The Eckerman brothers arrived with their boat at 8.30 AM, and a loading marathon began on the North side of the reef due to the wind from S.

All the radio equipment the amateurs brought with them had to go back, together with the windows and the glasses from the lighthouse. The Eckermans were also very kind helping removing the 80 kg heavy Honda from the engine room and taking it with them, a task that would have been impossible for a single lighthouse keeper to cope with but OK with two pairs of helping hands.


The Eckerman boat came and took the radio-amateurs away.

The Eckermans also brought the keys for Carlberg’s cabin and secured the windows that have had been dancing in the wind since the last storm. Special thanks to the Eckermans!

This is also a good opportunity for me to thank all the radio-amateurs Martti, Lars, Antti, Pertti, Ville and Juha that have been here during the week, providing me with good laughs and valuable material for my reportage. I belive we all got along very well. Special thanks goes to Lars Nikko who has been most kind lending me a 220v cord from their generator and washing my coffee cups during the whole week...


The spot is there but no helicopter on the reef.

Therefore, I really don’t mind at all washing up in the kitchen and bringing some litter left down to the recycling station. Now, I manage just fine with car batteries I brought with me for the small electric needs I have: Power for the cell phones, cameras and the computer to enable me to write during the night.

During daytime, everything is solar-cell-charged while I fulfil my keeper’s duties. And even if the Honda still would be around, I would not even dream of starting it up. For the first time since my arrival, I can hear the wind and the waves, a great symphony created by nature.

After cleaning in the kitchen, I gave up early in the afternoon. Enough for today! After all, I am a real lighthouse keeper now and not a maid dancing with a vacuum cleaner all day long ! Pekka gave me indirect a good reminder yesterday about the importance of observing the nature. May perhaps sound funny, but that is really a thing easy to forget, focusing on all the amount of work that has to be done in the lighthouse. A bit like reporting about life but not living it.

So, at first, I opened up all the ventilation shafts again. Humans tend to avoid draft and close everything around them, but ventilation is still the most essential thing for the lighthouse, inspite the fact that humidity at this time of the year constantly lies above 80 per cent. This old lady needs some fresh air!

Suddenly, my soul began to long for more nature and less carbage tins and what could possibly be a better observation point than the tower ?


The observer occupied the high point of Märket.

Soon my watch was rewarded. The seals appeared in my binoculars in the South. Most surely, they had been around all the time, it was just me that had been too occupied. I now managed just to get a non-price-winning shot of one of them, but try to get a closer look at them later in the morning when they gather on the reef on the North side.


Spotted some seals.

There is also a good view from above over the jetty and the marks showing the missing pieces of it. All the strange things about Märket suddenly become clearly visualized from the tower: The whole reef with its unique borderline, the visit cards of force of nature, the seals, the most dangerous toilet of the Baltic Sea, everything is there right in front of me. Along with the most spectacular experience for this day. The sound of silence.

Yours,
Leif