The morning was even more beautiful than yesterday and also warmer. Some of us took the breakfast coffee out to the bright sunshine. Irma and Roope went fishing, they rowed to check the special trap but returned disappointed.



However, we had fich for lunch, but it was herring from the supermarket, not fresh fish of Märket. We were just about to start our lunch when we saw a custom officer´s boat coming. It passed the northern harbour and then continued to the buoy. Ari took the rubber boat and fetched the two officers ashore. It turned out that they did not come on duty even thoug wearing uniforms. They just wanted to look around a little bit but showed special interest in Karlberg´s cabin. They were busy but had time for a cup of coffee and the soon famous Märket buns.



Today we started one of the mainprojects of the summer 2010, repairing the wall. The northern wall was built in 1887 to protect the lighthouse from heavy storms and high waves. It has been more or less damaged over the years under these hard conditions. Some effort has been made during 1960´s or 1970´s to repair the wall. Unfortunately the material used was too hard. It has been harmful to the granith stones, because it won´t behave the same way as the stone when it gets frozen and then melts again.

The rain goes in and makes things worse day by day. It has been planned that the ligthouse society members hammer off the old mortar and then professionals will come and repair the wall to look as nice as the basis of the lighthouse itself. So we took the tools, went to the wall and soon a rhytmic sound of work was in the air.



Pasi, who knows much about birds, noticed that a wagtail has a nest in one of the holes of the wall. That must be taken into consideration in the near future. Other bird observations, names in Latin: Early in the morning Seija took photos of Cepphus grylle. Pasi reported that on the island we have four nests of Sterna hirundo. Today a Haematopus ostralegus visited Märket.

The ligthousekeepers allways have something to do. But the one person who is busy every second is our chef. We have enjoyed very nice meals every day. Today Irma kindly asked if she could have a few moments free time to do some painting.



In the future Märket might become a place where artists can come and get inspired of the exotic atmosphere. Later we all admired the water colour painting Irma made this afternoon.

Irma, Roope, Seija, Ari, Pasi, Teija, Emil and Maaret