Today leaving Märket was possible. The Eckerman brothers brought out Leif, the new lighthouse keeper, and some radio amateurs. To make sure leaving really would be possible, Ville from the Lighthouse Society also came with his own boat. He skilfully brought in his boat on the South side.

As Ville was in no hurry back we had time to take Leif on a tour and explain the routines. Hopefully, we didn’t forget too much.


Jon, Leif, Esko and Ville meet at last.

Looking back at Märket, seeing it fast turn into a small spot, made us realize what a small place had been home for us for over a week.

Now we are enjoying a splendid dinner on the ferry back to Turku. Every lighthouse we see outside (there are quite a few of them) bring back our thoughts to Märket.

The retired lighthouse keepers Jon and Esko over and out

***

From the new lighthouse keeper, Leif Rosas:

After having spent a long weekend cut off from the rest of the civilised world with no electricity and mobile network, Jon and Esko waved towards the reef relieved from Ville’s boat taking them back to Eckerö.

I signed in onto Märket as the last lighthouse keeper for this season early Tuesday morning, along with the radio-amateurs Martti, Lars, Antti and Pertti preparing for a Scandinavian contest on Saturday.

The new Honda generator still has a major malfunction, and as the motor oil increases instead of decreases, probably no regular maintenance would get it back on feet again.


What is wrong with this machine?

A general failure seems more likely now and I decided not to use it as it could turn out to be a fire risk. It now rests between the beautiful old Wikström generators in the engine room waiting for a warranty repair on the mainland.


A nice place to rest between the old chaps.

Along with the radio-amateurs came the light. First, as a free cord from Lars, an old British generator that runs 24h, then, as the sky turned blue, with a wonderful visibility all the way to Sweden together with a very moderate wind from the North the day into paradise on Earth.


Two sources of light.

Even for a newcomer, it was easy to realise the amount of work having been done on the lighthouse so far, and even more the amount that still is left.

Almost all the windows had now been replaced with temporary boards, giving the old lighthouse a far better chance of surviving one more hard winter. Thanks to all the keepers’ activity over the whole summer, my job seems more to be to close down everything for the winter and prepare for the coming season.


The lighthouse prepares for the winter season.

Tomorrow I will start with the bedroom, the only radio free zone on the reef.

Leif Rosas