Wildlife notes
The female elephant seal here has finished her molt and could be heading back to sea any day now. She has been fasting since she arrived in May and has lost a lot of weight during her catastrophic molt where shed and regrew all of her skin and fur.
I believe this female was also here last year at this time as she has the same star shaped scar on the her upper back near her left shoulder. Last year she arrived on May 18, spent 18 days preparing for her molt, spent two weeks shedding and another 18 days preparing for her departure. It wasn’t recorded in the logs this spring when she arrived but if we add 18 days to the day she finished molting this year, which was June 14th, she would leave around July 2nd. In previous years they seemed to produce a lot more white froth (see June 25 2024 to read about their talents and the white froth) from their nose before they left. I will miss her and I stare at her a little longer each day as I know her time is coming.
Female elephant seal. I am sure she won’t miss the flies.
Facility work
Greg and Richard came by today for a grocery run and with new line to replace the fraying flag pole halyard. Just in time for Canada Day! I will save the photo of that for tomorrow.
- cleaned solar panels
- weeded more areas
- replaced flag halyard
Vessels
- Ecotourism: 8
- Private: 2
Weather
Skies partly cloudy. Winds variable 4 to 16 knots. Daytime temperatures 12 to 13 degrees.