This spell of calm, clear weather continues.
Usual chores today: check energy system, clean pathways, generally tidy up outside knowing that this weather can’t last forever.
Tourism vessels: 2
Private vessel: 1
A sailing ship called VEnturosa passed through the reserve today. AIS says she’s 33m and was bound for Victoria.
Clear skies. Light wind. Great sunset.
Tourism vessels: 2
My future-firewood pile is growing. If a good log comes through I sometimes tie it to the shore and try to work it up higher with the tides over the course of a couple days. Otherwise, I can buck it up into human-scaled lengths and move it to the pile.
Pile of future-firewood
This one is a keeper for sure.
Clear skies and modreate west wind today. It was blowing W23kn, gusting 28kn at noon. Otherwise a quiet day out here.
One Tourism boat.
The sea lions are getting sparse on the jetty. No tags or new brands today. The California with the X2 brand is still around.
I make maps for a living, so you better believe I was excited to find a sea lion with two telemetry tags pinned in its flipper-pits. I reached out to Kendra and our contacts at Oregon State and got an answer the next day!
California sea lion: branded X103
X103 is an animal they tagged (ODFW, WDFW, UCLA, and others) in Astoria, Oregon on August 29, 2024, as part of a research project looking at disease ecology and movements of California sea lions. More information about the project can be found here: at this link (X103 isn’t listed here yet but the 2023 cohort is)
For information on the whole research project: The Eastern Pacific Marine One Health Coalition https://marineonehealth.or
Maintenance:
Since talking with the Oregan taggers, I’ve been reaching out to our other animal reporting partners and getting updated emails and protocols. I’ll use this information to update in the SOP.
The Pearson College crew came out today and did a big diesel delivery. We got the jerry cans filled up and stowed back in their shed. The generator building has a 200 li barrel and a 100 li tidy tank, and the tank shed is mostly full. Always feels good to be resource righ! Very nice to move all that liquid across the island with help.
I make a point to go up the tower every day. Currently working towards 3 consecutive trips up the tower without it feeling like my heart is going to explode. Fitness in small places requires some creativity.
Been doing chores. This week has no precipitation forecasted so I let the stack of logs dry a little and then split it and got it stacked in the basement. Although it’s warm now but I’m sure winter will hit us at some point so it’s nice to have a good supply of wood. ALso lets us use much less dielse for the furnace in the house.
Settled in the the island routine.
The daily water sample is a bit hectic with the lack of electric fence on jetty. I’ve found the supplies so I’ll put that back up in the next week.
We are testing running the gererator on auto. Which means that it turns itself on when the voltage reaches a set point. I’ve been logging the fuel consumption so I’ll be able to see how much we burn over the course of the week. This model keeps the batteries really happy because they get topped up to 100% state of charge and float there for a while. Keeps the plates clean and the batteries nicely conditioned. I do an engine check and battery fluid check every day just to make sure it;s all running smoothly.
The view from my morning tea perch. Showing our am/pm satelite checkin SPOT.
Someone has 3D printer skills! There’s a few very cute lampshades out here based on pictures of the tower. Dark areas are thicker material, light areas are thinner material. Kinda magic!
We had some Transient Orca practicing hunting maneuvers around the S side of Race Rocks, a very exciting welcome back to the island! We’re told by the whale folks this was most likely T075b’s practicing working together on ‘pincer’ movements on the sea lions.
Mammals:
Birds
Came out to Race Rocks with the Pearson College crew. Did a great change-over with Kendra. Weather was perfect, no rain no wind. Grateful to be back out here. Spent the afternoon scoping things out, seeing what has changed, and cleaning the house.
Had a great killer whale show on the south side by the energy building. There was 5 whales, pestering the sealions. They’d come in to the rocks, try and herd the sealions out into open water, then circle back out. Our theory is that they were teaching the small one to hunt.
