July 1st to 3rd : Summer time

July 1ST to 3rd: Summer time is here

If on the last day of June the wind was blowing up to 38.9 around 7:00 the 1st of July and the following days we had some light westerly wind increasing to 25 knots at the most in late afternoon. Water temperature has been steady above 12 Celsius and in Race Rocks no heavy hot days just the best …a light breeze above the houses.

The first of the month (Our Canada flag prouder than ever) has been a very busy day around Race Rocks. Fishing boats and whales watchers were attracted by a pod of orcas heading from ocean to Victoria and we could see them a mere half mile away from the rock on the South West side. All the boats were around and quickly disappeared following the whales.

At 5h00 in the morning, one after the other Floyd and Chunk, the 2 belching and dripping water Elephants Seals, came back from sea ready for a long sleepy day…but we were surprised, in the middle afternoon they gave us a real show. The 3 of them spent more than an hour playing like crazy in the shallow waters by the the jetty for the pleasure of a big whale watchers boat a little too close …but it was such a nice show! Some friends of us at the camera took pictures of the whole thing!

Divers came too and this time very closed to the shore maybe 15 meters! Some were snorkeling and 2 had bottles. They stayed not for long I would say 30mn.

Chicks are now everywhere to be seen…and the island get very noisy .
It ‘s just amazing to see how well protected those new ones are by the whole community. Even the eagles fly away.

Today for the first time in a week the generator has been on for a few hours

Guy had to look at the quantity of oil on the island, that is to say in the 2 houses (175 and 154 liters) the 3 drums (208 liters each), the 2 tanks –the big one (1120 liters) and the new smaller one (200 liters).

Yesterday, July 3rd. It was time for some groceries to buy. We have been surprised to see how hot it was in town and even at the college only a few miles away…We were really happy to come back a few hours later. We had a calm weather condition for the whole day, west winds from 0.11 knots to 23 knots in the end afternoon, very good visibility 10 miles at least.

June 29th mainly by the window

5.30 beginning of the day …and at the angle of the water sampling shed the 2 big elephant seals appeared looking tired…and at the same moment the guest family was still sleeping exactly at the same spot and in the same order as usual. It has been a very windy day but beautiful, bright and sunny. Chores were in the schedule like solar panels for sure and the batteries needed to be dried one after the other but we have been busy inside the house for the rest of the day because of the so strong wind. You could not stand it for long.

At noon 26 knots and at 2PM a few gust at 29…

June 28th Animal census day

Formal procedure when you want to enter the water by a hot day: Guy observed
Chunk going in the water in the middle of the afternoon. In the same way as people when the water is cold and, he took his time and delicately with his ‘ left arm and hand ‘ he sprayed water on himself and only after that did he go in.

It has been a calm and hot day: no visitors no whale watchers. The day was busy with the animal census. Maybe because of the wind coming, the island was not so crowded :one couple of oystercatchers could not be found neither the small baby I saw when first coming back. Just a few pelagic cormorants and no harbor seals closed…
Slowly the wind raised and at 6h00 it was 30 knots: gale warning was in effect.