Author Archives: Christine Ouradou

July 5th 2015 –Tragic day around the rock

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The day has been pretty warm, heavy with no wind at all and a little bit later it changed, coming from South.
Even if we are washing the solar panels everyday it became worse with sea gull droppings and now we need at least 2 full buckets of fresh water.

Around 9:30 I would say, we saw, as did everybody in Southern B.C., that eerie sky but I can tell you that it was like a Hitchcock movie here with the shouting birds all around.

Pretty sad day and what was to come was even sadder. We first saw a boat with divers close to Turbine and West rocks, followed by a Coast Guard zodiac and later a helicopter from Rescue Canada…So a serious matter was unfolding. A diver had not returned after his dive…Late into the night they continued searching. The helicopter flew by the island many times and birds were getting crazy. We even saw a Canadian Frigate, a Canadair plane and another plane too.
In the middle of all this traffic at one point we spotted 2 orcas on the way. It was the only comforting sight of the day.

In total all kinds of boats have been around today: 3 kayaks, 3 or 4 whale watchers, 1 sailboat and 1 small fishing boat in the middle of the passage playing in the current, 1 submarine, 1 diving boat,1 rescue boat,1 navy boat and above a  helicopter and 2 planes . What a busy day.

See Times Colonist Article: Searchers hunt for missing diver near Race Rocks

Update: July 9-The search is still going on for the missing diver.

July 4th Camera 5 cleaned

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We had 2 guests in the Island for the Weekend. Guyonne and Lindsay. Guyonne was
born in Brittany and her Dad on the famous‘’ile de ouessant ‘’, 2 of her great uncles have been light keepers. So she really deserved to spend time here.

It has been a day with almost no wind in the morning and a maximum of 20 knots around 7:00 PM decreasing rapidly later.

For the first time we saw Floyd and Chunk fishing very closed to South seals Rocks. Almost everyday a bald eagle tries to land but the closest he succeeds is on North Rocks. The gulls are more than ever ready to fight.

Our friends have been big fans of the Rocks since the beginning of our shift and they spend a lot of time on camera 5 enough to convince Lindsay to clean it and he bravely did it. It was something to watch him progressing slowly surrounded by shouting birds! Big thanks to him! Next time it will be be after the nesting period.

How do you manage to do your training on the small place like this one? Easy enough with a lighthouse right there. After a week of no exercise I had to do something so I climb 3 times and promise myself to be steady!

In the evening we enjoyed in the distance the fireworks all along the US coast celebrating

July 1st to 3rd : Summer time

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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

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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

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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.

June 30th Strange decorations on seals

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At 4.45 the wind was still 20 knots and 26 knots and stayed around 25 .it was a foggy morning too. Actually the whole day the horn went on and off.

The interesting fact of the day was a seal on a rock we saw with a strange white spot on the side but closed to his mouth and with the binoculars we didn’t know if it was a kind of fishing tackle or a tag …but a pretty big tag! And that’s when we saw a second one with the same kind of decoration. Guy took a picture and we asked our specialists friends. Garry confirmed that it was a  fishing flasher. Pretty dangerous actually and he told us that there are no dissolvable lines and lure when inside the gut of the sea lions so please tell it around…we need to lobby DFO to make it mandatory.goflasher2015-07
Yesterday the letters on the aluminum tank needed to be scraped. Done by Guy while  I went on with some cleaning, tiding up and sorting out in the main house. After that it was time for me for some watercolor painting.

Animal census

Link

Northern Elephant seals: 3

Harbour seals: 75

Pelagic cormorants: 3

Pigeons –guillemots: 75

Black oystercatchers: 2 couples

Canada geese: 4 adults and 7 goslings

Bold eagle: 1 adult

Glaucous -Winged gulls: 400 (a few young ones)

No whales

No shorebirds

Foggy day

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Friday 26th

Around 11pm between Thursday and Friday the foghorn began its song. Thanks to my wax plugs set .It did the job! For Guy no problem he was already asleep and never wake up…so. Anyway in the morning a fog curtain was lingering over the States coast but was getting closer every minute after sunset. At 5h30 the foghorn went on again. We were in a cottony atmosphere and it was like that in and out for the rest of the day.

In the morning it was so nice to watch from the window the geese family waking up one bird after the other.

Later we had to put the desalinator on and the filter was changed (every 15 days) the generator those days are working with the sun power: Nice!

Boats around: In the morning a zodiac came with 5 to 8 people…apparently nobody had a life jacket! Because of the foggy day we had a lot less whale watchers than usual. Actually a pretty foggy day and not a hot day on Race Rocks! The horn? We are getting used to

This morning we saw the first 2 seagull chicks; easy enough from our window close to the stairs. As usual pictures time  today is anytime: can you imagine chicks fed on small and long fish like smelts. Those birds are common but so interesting to observe. Right now males bring back straw to their nest again: maybe to make them stronger and bigger to welcome the babies…

As chores: I did an inventory in the pharmacy box and kitchen to get rid of out of date products.

Last Large Oil tank Decommissioned

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Thursday 25th

The wind was light, the currents mild, no difference between low and high tide. Maybe it explains why the seawater was so warm compared to a week before 12.4
The visibility too was amazingly good .We could see the American coast so clearly and so far around 20 miles away. We can consider that day as the first real summer day in Race rocks: no wind or so little 4knots a joke, north direction, a mirror as a sea. At 5:30 the forecast was an increase to 20 knots around noon in fact we got it at 5pm in the afternoon.

It was a big day in Race Rocks. I would say an historic one because the big diesel tank has been disconnected (8000l) for a small one (450l). And all this made possible because of the efficient power of the sun .2 plumbers spent the day on the rock. At the end they double-checked to be sure that there were no more air bubbles and put under pressure the pipes…so now the big tank is ready to be hauled ashore …but this is another story…The 2 guys were so happy with their unusual day: splashes on the open boat and a trip at lunch time to the top of the tower. But everything took an end…and alone we were again and it was our turn to climb the 91 stairs and to enjoy this beautiful scenery.

Speaking about boats around the protected area: around 8pm we were surprised to see a zodiac with divers …and they were busy taking back aboard 2 of them? Other sightseeing: a submarine vessel from Esquimalt with a white smoke in the wake.

The water sampling confirmed a pretty high water temperature 11.8 Celsius