A forest sailed by | Race Rocks Ecological Reserve-

Last year when I reported on the ships passing Race Rocks in a 9 hour time span (11 ships go sailing by), tugs were not included. Last night an enormous barge loaded with log bundles and equipped with cranes passed to the south of Race Rocks at 6:30pm. Where are they going with all that wood? I went to marinetraffic.com to investigate. Where it came from was just as interesting. It went from Port Alberni, down the inlet, down and around the southern tip of Vancouver Island and then north to Ladysmith. Say it travelled an average of 6.5 knots, if the tug Coast Island King continued making way north for another 2-3 hours it would have reached the same latitude as Port Alberni. I had a look at Ladysmith on google maps. The amount of logs and the organization required in the sorting and holding grounds is mind boggling! I recommend taking a look.

Log barge passing Race Rocks 6:30pm June 23

Track displayed at 7pm June 23

Track displayed at 9am June 24

Google maps screen shot of a part of Ladysmith harbour

Wildlife notes

I can report that at least one of the nests the egg thief cleared out (see Jail time) has a gull on it again with one new egg.

One of the nests robbed by the egg thief is occupied again

Facility work

In preparation for the upcoming cloudy and rainy weather and the expected need for the generator, which means ample power to run the desalinator, I added more sea water to the cistern. Half way through the elephant seal decided to lay on the fire hose. She wasn’t happy with me when I tried to wiggle the fire hose to get her to roll over just a foot or two. She tried to bite it! That wouldn’t have worked well for her (a shock) or me (a repair) as it was under pressure and full of water. I decided to move to her other end for more wiggling/encouragement and after some vocalizations she finally rolled over.