Monthly Archives: May 2016

Retrieval of the Lost Buoys!

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles in the morning, 15 miles rest of the day
  • Wind: 10-15 knots West
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: 1′ chop

Ecological

  • 15 elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • More Canada Geese on Great Race today.
  • Several fierce battles ensued between resident geese and new geese.

Maintenance

  • Cleaned some exterior windows on the student’s house.
  • Applied 30 second spray to part of the student’s house.
  • Scrubbed off the algae afterwards.
  • Goose work.

Boats

  • Kyle, his father, and Guy came out at 8:50 to drop off a weedeater and take a look at the old diesel transfer hose system.
  • On their return they pulled up the lost buoys!
  • 5 eco-tours came by today. Some of them seemed to be too close to the animals.
  • A fishing boat and a pleasure craft also seemed to be encroaching a bit.

Other

  • The lost buoys were retrieved today.
  • There was nothing significant attached to them.
  • 4 DND blasts today.
  • One huge blast at 11:01.
  • Three big blasts at 11:03, 12:17, and 2:34.

All West Wind

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 25-30 knots West
  • As I write this at 20:00 the wind has picked up to 35 knots
  • Sky: cloudy, now raining
  • Water: 4′ chop and whitecaps
  • Gale warning in effect until tomorrow.

Early morning Mt. BakerEarly morning Mt. Baker 2

Ecological

  • 15 elephant seals on Great Race today.

Seal FestPeaking over the Rocks

Maintenance

  • Some goose work this morning.

Boats

  • Saw the HMCS Winnipeg out in the straight.

HMCS Winnipeg

Other

  • Got a phone call today from Pearson College indicating that CBC All Points West was interested in interviewing me about my experience following Leicester’s Premier League win at a lighthouse on an island.
  • They found out about me from a comment I had on The Guardian’s live blog.
  • Anticipating a possible phone call from CBC Radio, I spent all afternoon near the phone, but nothing happened.

Glorious Food and Weather

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 10-15 knots NE, later West
  • Sky: mostly clear, sunny, warm!
  • Water: calm

Mount Baker!

Rainbow!

Ecological

  • 15 elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • They spent much of the afternoon playing in the water near the jetty.

Like a pack of sausages!

Maintenance

  • Goose work.
  • Added one entire 55 gallon barrel into the Tidy Tank.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.

Boats

  • One small pleasure craft came through the reserve today.
  • It looked like it might have been too close to the harbour seals on Turbine.
  • Kyle and Guy brought me two boxes of food today. Much appreciated and needed!

Other

  • I know this isn’t really related to the reserve, but I hope that Pam Birley, our honorary eco-guardian, is enjoying the celebrations of Leicester City’s first ever English Premier League win! Cheers to all you do for the reserve, and your city!

Sunny May Day on the Rock

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 0-5 knots NE, then S
  • Sky: clear and sunny!
  • Water: calm
  • Welcome springtime!

Ecological

  • The usual 15 elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • Thought I saw whales out West at sunset. I definitely saw something coming up for air and blowing jets of water.

Elephant seal salad

Maintenance

  • Wrote the April month end report today amongst the usual chores.

Boats

  • 5 eco-tours came by today.
  • Some of them appeared to be too close to the harbour seals on Turbine Rock.
  • The viewing distance for boats near marine mammal haul-outs has been accepted by the Ecotour community to be 100 metres.

Other

  • DND blasts at 10:14, 10:16, and 10:20.