Three Finnish students become lighthouse keepers: learn about their life on the island!

In spring, while studying at Aalto University, Santeri Parkkonen saw a job posting shared in the student sailing club’s discussion group: the city of Kaskinen was seeking a lighthouse keeper for Sälgrund Island.

“I thought it seemed like a fun summer job, but I still kept sending applications elsewhere,” Santeri says.

As spring went on, though, Santeri couldn’t get that job posting out of his mind.

“I got those ‘unfortunately, you weren’t selected’ messages from other places, and it was frustrating,” he says.

Santeri called the number in the posting and reached the mayor of Kaskinen, Markku Lumia. He mentioned that previously a couple had held the position.

“Markku joked that I should bring along some nice girl. Instead, I brought Pyry and Eemil.”

The next day, Santeri met up with his friend Pyry Lysmä over lunch and suggested spending the summer in Kaskinen. Pyry immediately agreed. After lunch, they invited Pyry’s roommate Eemil Kosonen.

“We figured we’d need more people for our crew, and since I live with Eemil, it felt like a natural next step,” Pyry says.

The lighthouse keepers at Sälgrund. From left: Santeri Parkkonen, in the middle: Eemil Kosonen, and on the right: Pyry Lysmä. Pyry and Santeri originally hail from Helsinki, while Eemil is from Mynämäki. Now all three live in Espoo and study at Aalto University: Eemil studies business, Pyry and Santeri study real estate economics. None of them had ever visited Kaskinen before taking on the lighthouse keeper job.

Santeri, Eemil, and Pyry run a guesthouse on the island. In addition, they host day trips (including a lighthouse visit) on Wednesdays and operate a café on Saturdays.

Santeri and Pyry have known each other for more than ten years. Pyry and Eemil met in the army and have been roommates for two years. In Espoo, they each have their own room, but on Sälgrund, all three sleep in bunk beds in the same space. This arrangement hasn’t bothered them.

“There’s plenty of room here on the island if you want some alone time. You can head into the woods or sit on a rocky outcrop, and you’ll definitely find peace and quiet,” Pyry says.

“And we’re not that hard on each other anyway,” Eemil adds.

“And during the day there’s all kinds of tasks to do, so there’s no time to miss having your own space,” Pyry continues.

In addition to the lighthouse and guesthouse, the courtyard area also has an outbuilding that provides more sleeping space.

On the guesthouse balcony, a statue keeps watch toward the lighthouse.

The trio has been running the guesthouse and café on the island all summer and leading lighthouse tours for visitors. The lighthouse itself is automated. Typically, the day begins by setting out breakfast for guests by nine. The previous day’s guests leave around noon, after which they clean up for the next arrivals.

“When guests arrive, we ask them what time they’d like to use the sauna or have dinner,” Eemil says.

A visit also includes a tour of the lighthouse. Even though the three of them haven’t divided up set roles, Santeri likes working in the kitchen while Eemil and Pyry are happy to show guests around the lighthouse. Every other day, one of them takes the boat to the store. At the same time, they drop off laundry at the service, dispose of trash, and pick up fresh fish from local fishermen. A trip to the store can easily take a couple of hours, and it’s rarely just a quick stop.

“We try to plan our store runs carefully, but in the beginning, mishaps still happened,” Eemil says.

“One time, all the salmon we had went bad, and the next day we had 50 guests arriving for salmon soup,” Pyry reveals.

Fortunately, a local fisherman came to the rescue.

“He said he didn’t have any fish himself but would call a friend. In the morning, we were able to pick up enough salmon for the soup. That would never happen in the city,” Pyry continues.

The trio quickly noticed, that in a small community, help is always on hand.

“Last week, our boat broke down, and on an island like this, that’s pretty critical,” Santeri says.

“That’s when Kari, who transports our guests to the island, loaned us his rowboat with an outboard motor until ours was fixed,” Pyry continues.

The trio has been pleasantly surprised by how communal life in Kaskinen is. You can call other entrepreneurs even on weekends, and people help each other selflessly.

Every day on the island, the trio bakes traditional archipelago bread. They also bake both savory and sweet treats for the Saturday café each week. In this photo, Eemil is baking archipelago bread for the guesthouse visitors soon to arrive.

When you stay at the guesthouse, breakfast is included, often featuring porridge and archipelago bread.

The lighthouse keepers stay in the guesthouse next to the kitchen. A sign on the door indicates that no one else should enter.

Even though the three of them were already friends before the summer, working together has revealed new sides to them.

“We might have different views on how certain things should be done,” Pyry says.

Those differences show up in the kitchen, for instance. All three are self-taught cooks and are used to making things like fish soup in slightly different ways. The lighthouse keepers have a laid-back attitude toward these disagreements.

“In those situations, I just figure that if I want something done differently, I’ll do it myself next time,” Eemil explains.

On Saturdays, the café operates in the same room where both the guesthouse visitors and the trio dine.

Each member of the trio has done customer service work before, but in much more hectic workplaces where you couldn’t get to know the customers in the same way as you can at the lighthouse.

The previous guesthouse visitors usually leave at noon, after which there are a couple of hours to clean up and prepare the rooms for the next guests.

The sauna building has a landline phone that can only call the guesthouse kitchen, to ask for more drinks or anything else needed. Sometimes children find the landline so intriguing that they call the kitchen just for fun.

Despite living and working so closely together, the trio also enjoys spending their free time together. In the evenings, they often play cards in the living room.

The lighthouse keepers also like spending time with the guesthouse visitors. One evening, everyone chatted until late. Before leaving, the visitors wrote a note in the guestbook inviting them over for coffee. The guests’ warm gesture surprised the trio.

“It’s still quite an intimate setting when you’re together in a small place for a long time,” Pyry explains.

“That’s why we never call our visitors ‘customers’—they’re coming over as our guests,” Santeri adds.

Along with unforgettable encounters, the summer has also brought clarity to the trio’s future plans. They already had entrepreneurial ambitions before running the guesthouse in Kaskinen, and now that passion has only grown.

Although their summer on the island has been pleasant, the lighthouse keepers are already looking forward to heading home. Everyday life and friends await them in Espoo.

“Leaving will definitely feel bittersweet, though,” Santeri suspects.

Because the lighthouse and guesthouse are on an island, the trio had to acquire a boat for the summer. They’re still deciding what to do with it once the season is over.