The weather forecast was for rain and 30 knots this morning so I lowered the flag last night. This morning there was hardly any wind but the new forecast called for 40 knots in the afternoon, so I left the flag down.  I also put off cleaning the panels in the morning expecting rain.  I gave up on the wind and rain midday and cleaned the panels. The forecast is not always accurate but this was way off. The swell coming in from the east was causing interesting conditions at the Jetty and on East Beach. There was bad weather to the east for sure.  Ahhhh….. that was it and it only took half the day to figure it out! I was reading the forecast for Juan de Fuca Strait – east entrance.  The forecast conditions for the Juan de Fuca Strait – central straight was exactly what we got. Christine! This is not the place to get sloppy/stupid… small details are important here!

I skipped taking the sea water reading today as parts of Jetty were underwater at sampling time. The brown stain on the walkway and down on the boat ramp is smeared around sea lion scat. It is extremely slippery as well as stinky.

The frothy water on East Beach. The sea lions chose different areas to haul out today.

I watched a Stellar sea lion dive from shore into a crashing wave and wished I had the good camera. It would have made a magnificent shot if Chris Fallows were here.

Wildlife notes

My interest in the sea lions is growing.  I am up the tower more often these days. Initially I went up for fresh air but now I also want to scan the area for new branded sea lions. I’ve spotted seven in the last 5 days.  I will write about them when I hear back from the US research scientists.

Branded California sea lion #456 (purple arrow bottom right) seen from the lighthouse today. The structures in the center are the lighthouse solar panels and fog horn. A few months ago there was green vegetation, many gull nests and little black oystercatcher chicks in the area.

Branded California sea lion #3-24 (purple arrow on the left side) seen form the lighthouse today. This sea lion has a GPS tracker on its flipper.  East Beach is in the upper left, the compost bins and stairs to the Keeper’s House is center left and the concrete top of the saltwater cistern in on the bottom left.

Facility work

• cleaned solar panels
• topped up battery fluids
• fence patrol and repair

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 15
• Private: 4

Weather

Partly cloudy, storm clouds distant. Wind direction variable. Mostly 2 to 13 knots except for a quick burst of 24 knots from the SE at 17:00 that blew open the screen door on the Keeper’s House north entrance.  Shame there was only a few drops of precipitation today as everything needs a cleaning.