Author Archives: Alex Fletcher

Feb 23, marine science class visit

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Sunny, wind East 5 knots.

Courtney brought Laura and 3 marine sciences classes to Race Rocks on Second Nature (3 trips), 36 students in total.  The classes did a lab studying waves, they took measurement and made observations on different sides of the island.

I saw a sea otter again today over by the south islands.  The mother elephant seal continues to stay close to the pup’s body.

DND blasting throughout day.  2 pleasure craft and 1 chartered fishing boat in the reserve. The chartered boat appeared to be getting quite close to harbour seals near North rock.  I called Pedder Bay Marina about one rental boat speeding. I went off island in the afternoon to pick up a guest.

 

Feb 22

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Sunny, 5-10 knot East wind.

2 Personal Watercraft and 2 whale watchers in the reserve.  There were several sports fishing boats around the reserve, counted over 25 in the area.  I called and left a message with one whale watching company regarding one of their boats in the reserve and its proximity to marine mammals

Chris came out in the afternoon with Laura and Simon, Alison and 3 guests.

I worked on a few projects including: pvc cementing vent pipe on guest house toilet, re-caulking chute on the toilet with silicone, changed pre-filters on diesal, replaced a leaky ball valve on diesal, untangled snapped derrick cable, and cut and chopped firewood.

The female elephant seal has stayed by the pup’s body most of the day.

Feb 21, stillborn

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Sunny, wind east 10 knots.

In the morning the shape of a dark elephant seal pup was visible from the house, next to the female elephant seal.  The mother was very sleepy next to the pup which was not moving. The placenta looked very fresh. There were no signs of trauma to the pup, it seemed to have been dead at birth.  The mother stayed close to the pup throughout the day, resting next to or along side it, and would occasionally smell and nudge it with her nose.

Around noon there was a sea otter visible swimming, floating on its back and diving off the South West side of great race.  I was able to get some photos which are the best I have been able to take of a sea otter here so far.

I went off island in the afternoon to bring back guests.  We passed by West rock and there was one other female visible there quite a ways off the main area where they usually lie, out of reach of Chunk who lay alone in the usual e-seal area.  I have not been seeing any females out there all week.

Our guests helped move and stack firewood. After returning to island I went to haul in a log on the derrick.  The cable was getting stuck part way up, after lowering it and trying again it snapped.  The log came crashing down into the water and I watched helplessly as the cable, which we had just fixed the week before, unraveled and dropped.  On closer inspection the cable was quite frayed and crimped, seems like it had gotten slacked, twisted and then reversed on itself at some point creating a weakness.  I had noticed previously that the up and down controls were reversed but couldnt figure out why.

There were 4 whale watching boats in the reservePoWfeb21, some of them appeared to be getting closer than 100 meters from marine mammals.

Feb 19-20

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Feb 19: Cloudy, periods of rain, wind West 10-15 knots. Went off island at first light to attend a conference. Came back before dark. Worked on cam 5: extended and sealed conduit pipe to fit new utility box, sealed utility box to pedestal, re-wired and mounted power connection in box.

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Moon, Mars, Venus, Feb 20.

Feb 20: Partly sunny, wind W 10-20 knots.  Went off island in afternoon to pick up and bring back two guests to stay overnight. Brought in recycling and discarded old cam 5 utility box.

After dark I could hear a female elephant seal nearby on great race, I found her she up past the boat house next to, and partly on top of, the goose exclusion inclosure. She was making vocalizations and seemed uncomfortable, moving around quite a bit.  She was very big and round, I wondered if she might be pregnant even though it is later than pups have typically been born here in recent years.  The moon was visible close to Mars and Venus, it was too windy to get a sharp long exposure with the telephoto.

Feb 16-18

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Feb 16: sunny, wind 10-20 NE.  Blasting on Bentinck Island.  Today was the first day in several weeks that I there are not female elephant seals visible on West rock. While it coincides with the blasting, they haven’t previously appeared bothered by it. 2 whale watching boats in the reserve. Worked on removing old utility box on camera 5 for replacement and repairs.  Composting toilet chamber is evaporated so I have unplugged the unit to conserve energy.

heron feb 18

Great Blue Heron on NE side of main island, Feb 18

Feb 17: Sunny, wind NE 10-20 knots. Cut, chopped and stacked wood.  Finished removing old utility box and preparing for new install.

Feb 18: Sunny in the morning, wind under 10 knots.  2 whale watching boats and a group of around 20 kayakers in the reserve. The kayakers stayed together and didnt get too close to the sealions.  Continued work on cam 5 utility box. A heron was in the reserve in the morning, I think this is the first time I have seen one here.

 

Feb 15, orcas and traffic

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family of four orcas off the south side of Race Rocks

Sunny, wind NE 10-20 becoming 5-10 E.  4 orcas passed by in the morning heading east.

orca and geaorge feb 15

Orcas beyond south island with halibut sports fishing boats and the Captain George, a 229mx 32m bulk carrier heading to Itaquai Brazil, in the background

There were several boats in the reserve again today, at least 10 whale watching boats and one dive boat, and at least 5 halibut fishing boats around the perimeter of the reserve in the morning. I raised a new Canadian flag on the flag pole for the anniversary of the flag. Worked on firewood cutting and organizing firewood storage.  The composting toilet in the assistant’s house still has liquid in the bottom though it is decreasing.  I can notice a relative draw on the battery bank while running the unit with it’s electric heating element and vent fan.

Feb 13-14 toilet and traffic

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composting toilet with steamy septic soup.

composting toilet with steamy septic soup.

Feb 13: Wind light becoming west 20 knots.  2 eco tour, 2 pleasure craft. Went off island in the morning to pick up guests.  Toilet in guest house has been running steady but liquid evaporation is going slowly.

Feb 14: Wind west 20 knots becoming calm and clear in the afternoon.  Male elephant seal was up in the jetty area in the morning. Took guest back to campus and ran some errands in town.  With the nice weather there was a lot more traffic in the reserve than there has been lately.  I was gone for a good part of the day but still saw 6 whale watching boats and 3 pleasure craft in the reserve when I returned.  There was some disturbance of the sealions, which exited into the water, caused by a few of the boats that were within the 100 meter marine mammal setback.

Feb 11-12, derrick and toilet

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Feb 11:  Cloudy, NE 10 knot wind.  In the morning Courtney came out on Second Nature with Tristan (Pearson volunteer) and scaffolding.  We had already put up two sections (5′ tall each) of scaffold with what we have on station so we added two more sections of rented scaffold to build a tower around 22′ tall below the derrick.  We secured all four sides with lines tied to various anchor points on the ground.  Standing on the top of the tower, the top of the derrick was just above my head height.  I greased the pulley and pried the cable out from its lodging on the side of the pulley to get it back in its track. We led the derrick cable down through the centre of the scaffolding and Tristan and Courtney re-attached the weighted hook which keeps tension on the line. We took down the scaffolding and sent the rented parts back to the college.  Derrick is finally back in action after months of being out of service and we now have a better and safer method for fixing and servicing the unit.  Thanks Courtney, Tristan and Chris.

On another topic, my dislike for the new composting toilet is increasing proportionately with the rising smell of stagnant septic in the basement of the assistant house…

Feb 12: Cloudy, wind light, periods of rain. 1 Pedder Bay Marina rental boat in the reserve that left the reserve going over the speed limit. I called the marina and they were to follow up with the operator.speeding feb 12

After venting the guest house basement as much as possible, it still stank in there.  I took apart the vent pipe and re-installed it with a bypass drain for rain water and excess moisture.  The pipe size on the toilet is non conventional (it says its 2″ PVC but of course it is not and it does not union with standard size pipe) so I installed a rubber union with clamps in order to transition to the ABS vent pipe already installed through the roof.  I installed a transparent pipe on the bypass so that it will be visible when there is liquid accumulation.  With the new vent pipe installed I plugged in the toilet to start heating up the septic soup again so that it will hopefully actually evaporate this time.

Feb 9-10, off island and pup

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Feb 9: Cloudy, wind light.  Went off island in the morning to run errands and get groceries. Since it was a holiday and I didnt know it several of the stores I intended to go to were closed. Passed by West rock en route and was able to see elephant seal pup.  Besides Chunk there were 4 good sized females and a pup bellow them on a rock ledge.  The pup was calling for its mother, it looked like it was unable to get back up to where she was.

Feb 10: Cloudy, wind west 30 knots in the morning dropping to 20 knots in the afternoon. Went off island in the afternoon.  Took one chainsaw chain in for mechanical sharpening. Went to plumbing store to get replacement valve for desalinator and to get parts for adding a bypass drain in the vent pipe on the toilet in the guest house.

Feb 6-8, weekend with students

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Michael, Isaac B., Alex, Dom, Zoe, Isaac D., Peyton and Connor

Feb 6: Fog overnight set off fog horn, rain, wind light throughout day.  Worked on finishing clean up from basement renovations in guest house and tidying upstairs, which hadnt been used for several months, in preparation for students coming.

Courtney brought a group of 8 students– from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland– out to Race Rocks in the afternoon to stay the weekend.  They brought a few fire extinguishers to replace ones that were condemned during annual testing in January. We did an orientation and went over safety guidelines and then went for a tour up the tower.

Feb 7:  Rain in the morning and intermittent throughout the day, wind variable increasing to around 30 knots in the evening. 1 pleasure craft in the reserve.

Alex and Peyton dove off the jetty on the slack tide just after noon.  I was on watch with Isaac B. and had the station boat launched and ready in case of any problems.  Isaac operated the dive link unit which allowed us to communicate through the water with the divers. They cleaned the underwater camera and changed the camera orientation.  We watched the image on my cell phone via wi-fi and were able to communicate to them how the image looked.

In the afternoon the students helped with some service projects including moving driftwood for cutting, setting up scaffolding under the crane, moving and stacking firewood, and sorting garbage that had been picked up in the jetty bay.  Peyton prepared soup, pizza and home made cinnamon rolls which we all ate together in the ecoguardian’s house for dinner.

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setting up scaffolding on the crane deck

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even sorting garbage can be fun

Feb 8: Partly sunny, wind around 10 knots N in the morning picking up to 30 knots N in the evening.  2 whale watching boats, 1 pleasure craft in the reserve.

Chris came out on Second Nature mid-morning to pick up students and bring them back to campus.  They helped offload cardboard and construction waste from the composting toilet installation. The new composting toilet had some issues so Chris helped with trouble shooting while he was out, rainwater was getting down the vent pipe causing excess liquid buildup in the evaporation chamber.

The group was a pleasure to have on the island; fun, helpful and appreciative of the unique opportunity to be out on Race Rocks.