Monthly Archives: July 2015

Day off !

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It has been 10 days without leaving this nice place so it was good to have a little break even if coming back delighted us…

No wind, no current, flat sea.

The South, South West wind brought a very iodineic smell above the usual strong smell of the island at this time of the year!

We have noticed very high tides those days and especially on that day( full high tide in the night around 11PM).

When we came back around 6PM a pleasure boat was anchored just on the other side of the jetty. I will say 30 meters. They seemed not understand why they were not allowed to do so! And soon they got some problems ( had to dive ) because their anchor got stuck in the kelp or rocks! At least that we didn’t have to explain! for the rest they were gone …before we got the camera .

Around 9PM with the coming darkness and a lovely pearl colored sky, we had (first time that happened at that time of the day) the last watching boat of the day.

Nursery Island

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Nursery island

It was still 20 knots when we awake but the rest of the day was pretty calm from 15 knots to 22 at the most. What a change! We could see very far that day…

After so much wind we were not alone outside enjoying a normal summer day. ..We could call the rock “Nursing Island “because chicks are really everywhere and the gulls are pretty nervous never stopping between feeding the young one and watching out for danger. No way to go around without your yellow helmet like a big bill on the top of the head! Those birds hit you once but not two times and it hurts! You remember!

We had another show from Chunk and the young female in the water. She really wanted to please him! Even after weeks we are still amazed by those attaching animals. They have lost a lot of weight and are now pretty active spending a lot of time in shallow water and each time going back and forth from water to a grassy spot.

 

Desalinator and generator have been on for a few hours. Everything is working perfectly.

Nursery Island

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Friday: Nursery island
It was still 20 knots when we awake but the rest of the day was pretty calm from 15 knots to 22 at the most. What a change! We could see very far that day…
After so much wind we were not alone outside enjoying a normal summer day. ..We could call the rock “Nursing Island “because chicks are really everywhere and the gulls pretty nervous never stop between feeding the young one and watching out for danger. No way to go around without your yellow helmet like a big bill on the top of the head! Those birds hit you once but not two times and it hurts! You remember!
We had another show from Chunk and the young female in the water .She really wanted to please him! Even after weeks we are still amazed by those attaching animals. They have lost a lot of weight and are now pretty active spending a lot of time in shallow water and each time going back and forth from water to grassy spot.
Desalinator and generator have been on for a few hours. Everything is working perfectly

Storm

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Storm conditions late in the evening
Here is the evolution of the wind coming from West through out the day

5:20 AM: 30 knots
6:05 AM: 32 knots
7:22 PM: 36 knots
8:07PM: 39.1knots
9:38PM: 45.8 knots
9:50PM: 44 knots
22:10: 43.3knots
22:30: 47.7knots
22:47: 50.6Knots

Reminder
6 force= 22-27 knots =39-49 kms/h = Strong breeze
7 force =28-33 knots=50-61 kms/h= Near gale
8 force=34-40 knots=62-74 km/h=Gale
9 force=41-47 knots=75-88 km/h=Strong gale
10 force=48-55 knots=89-102 km/h=Storm

It has been something to see the wind raising but as soon as it has been dark we couldn’t appreciate how big was the sea around the rocks …so we went to sleep.

During that day around 12 whale watchers came and we observed that the smallest gosling in the family of 5 was not swimming with the rest of the family but was wandering on the island limping a little bit (left leg)…later he manage to get accepted by the parents but stayed always behind the group of siblings (4). It is very difficult to spot those little oystercatchers … so I was pleased.

Chores done as usual

ANIMAL CENSUS

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July 9th Thursday: Animal census

The fog was still there pretty thick but around 11:30 it cleared up and we could go up the tower to do the census. We had a west wind and the forecast was a gale warning for the end of the afternoon.The wind at noon was from West at 24 knots and could go to 35 in the late afternoon. We saw a few Whale watchers boats around noon and we had no visitors. Water is getting colder under 12 degrees Celsius. Guy put a new VHF on the whaler.

The estimation of the population is:
Elephant seals: 3
Sea Lions: 180
Pigeon–guillemots: 80
Gulls: 450 (yesterday we could see a group of gulls with black winged maybe some west gulls)
Pelagic cormorants: 3
Geese: 11 (Today the smallest one of the family of 5 was not in the water swimming but looked lost alone in the island hanging around). They spend more and more time in the water.
Black oystercatchers :0

Bald eagle: 1 (they attack the colony almost every day once in the morning)

 

Windy and foggy day

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July 8th Wednesday: Very foggy and windy day.

Part of the night was foggy; the horn could tell…and early in the morning the visibility was a quarter mile. The wind was already at 28 knots at 5:30 AM and stayed the same almost the whole day… anyway the fog stayed to the afternoon and we had to postpone the census.

 

 

 

July 7th Chicks everywhere

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July 7th Tuesday: Chicks everywhere

No more rescue boats around anymore but a tourist plane flew by the island once.

Moderate West wind was between 14 knots to a maximum of 20 knots. No fog and still a little bit of a yellow haze in the sky.
We saw Floyd and Chunk swimming closed to the South islands

From the front window of the main house we could count around 20 chicks mainly under the parent’s wings but they grow pretty fast. The adults behavior is changing they become very active doing their job, protecting each other and the chicks feeding the young ones and going fishing. They are getting aggressive. We have to wear a helmet all the time but they know us and now they just make us know that they are ready to attack. There are still a few eggs not yet hatched but not so many.

July 5th 2015 –Tragic day around the rock

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The day has been pretty warm, heavy with no wind at all and a little bit later it changed, coming from South.
Even if we are washing the solar panels everyday it became worse with sea gull droppings and now we need at least 2 full buckets of fresh water.

Around 9:30 I would say, we saw, as did everybody in Southern B.C., that eerie sky but I can tell you that it was like a Hitchcock movie here with the shouting birds all around.

Pretty sad day and what was to come was even sadder. We first saw a boat with divers close to Turbine and West rocks, followed by a Coast Guard zodiac and later a helicopter from Rescue Canada…So a serious matter was unfolding. A diver had not returned after his dive…Late into the night they continued searching. The helicopter flew by the island many times and birds were getting crazy. We even saw a Canadian Frigate, a Canadair plane and another plane too.
In the middle of all this traffic at one point we spotted 2 orcas on the way. It was the only comforting sight of the day.

In total all kinds of boats have been around today: 3 kayaks, 3 or 4 whale watchers, 1 sailboat and 1 small fishing boat in the middle of the passage playing in the current, 1 submarine, 1 diving boat,1 rescue boat,1 navy boat and above a  helicopter and 2 planes . What a busy day.

See Times Colonist Article: Searchers hunt for missing diver near Race Rocks

Update: July 9-The search is still going on for the missing diver.

July 4th Camera 5 cleaned

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We had 2 guests in the Island for the Weekend. Guyonne and Lindsay. Guyonne was
born in Brittany and her Dad on the famous‘’ile de ouessant ‘’, 2 of her great uncles have been light keepers. So she really deserved to spend time here.

It has been a day with almost no wind in the morning and a maximum of 20 knots around 7:00 PM decreasing rapidly later.

For the first time we saw Floyd and Chunk fishing very closed to South seals Rocks. Almost everyday a bald eagle tries to land but the closest he succeeds is on North Rocks. The gulls are more than ever ready to fight.

Our friends have been big fans of the Rocks since the beginning of our shift and they spend a lot of time on camera 5 enough to convince Lindsay to clean it and he bravely did it. It was something to watch him progressing slowly surrounded by shouting birds! Big thanks to him! Next time it will be be after the nesting period.

How do you manage to do your training on the small place like this one? Easy enough with a lighthouse right there. After a week of no exercise I had to do something so I climb 3 times and promise myself to be steady!

In the evening we enjoyed in the distance the fireworks all along the US coast celebrating