Author Archives: Riley Strother

The Lost Buoys

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 5-10 SE
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: calm
  • Today’s high temperature of 16.7 C (62 F) was a new observed record, beating last year’s mark of 15.9 C.

Ecological

  • 9 elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • Still no sign of any black oystercatcher nests.

Maintenance

  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • Confirmed part no. for the desalinator RO membrane.

Boats

  • The largest eco-tour that I have ever seen came by today.
  • Named the Orca Spirit II, it even showed up on the AIS Vessel Tracking website map!
  • When viewing the sea lions on the South Rocks, it kept the farthest distance I have ever seen an eco-tour keep. Good job!
  • The large POW boat came by later on, and spent a while viewing the elephant seals that were frolicking in the ramp near the jetty.

Other

  • 6 DND blasts today.
  • 2 around 10:00.
  • 2 around 11:00.
  • 2 around 13:30.
  • Spied a couple of lost buoys floating through Middle Channel this morning.

A DND blast

The Lost Buoys

The Lost Buoys

To Seek A Nest

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots SE, later up to 15 W
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: rippled

Ecological

  • Spent over an hour searching for Black Oystercatcher nests for the new webcam to focus on, yet I found nothing.
  • Found one abandoned Canada Goose nest, confirming yesterday’s suspicions.
  • The elephant seals continued their moulting, play-fighting, and ramp bathing.
  • About 9 on Great Race today, and 6 on Middle Rock.
  • Check out the e-seals in their flight squadron formation!

Elephant Seal flight squadron formation

Maintenance

  • More Canada Goose themed maintenance.
  • It is mutually unfortunate that they choose to nest so close to key areas.

Boats

  • Observed three eco-tours lined up to the north of the reserve. I suspect they had found whales?
  • Later they made their way through the reserve in customary fashion.
  • One dive boat was anchored just south of the South Rocks for a few hours.
  • Spied a funny looking barge with heavy duty vehicles on it. They looked like toys from my distance!
  • The Queen of Cumberland (BC Ferries) was out near Esquimalt, presumably doing some test runs, as she is currently undergoing a refit until April 21.

Other

  • 5 DND blasts today at Bentinck Island.
  • 2 medium blasts around 11:00.
  • 3 smaller ones between 13:30 and 14:00.

Elephant Seal Play-fighting

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots E
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: calm
  • Another spectacular sunrise!

Ecological

  • About 8 elephant seals on Great Race today. Six or so on Middle Rock.
  • A few of the younger e-seals (2 or 3 year old males?) spent much of the day play-fighting. Very entertaining to watch.
  • We seem to be down from 8 nesting pairs of Canada Geese to 7.
  • Observed a Giant Green Anemone (Anthopleura xanthogrammica) in the water. Very beautiful.

Maintenance

  • Spent several hours dealing with various Canada Goose themed activities.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • Checked the tidy tank. 11.5″ of fuel remaining, down from 13.5″ on March 30th.

Boats

  • A couple of pleasure craft came by today. One appeared to be anchored quite close to the sea lions on the North-West side of Great Race.
  • Only one eco-tour came by today.

Pleasure Craft Today's only eco-tour

Many Boats Afloat

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 0-10 knots NE
  • Sky: mix of sun and clouds
  • Water: rippled, later some gentle swells

Epic Sunrise

Ecological

  • As many as 10 elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • Counted at least 4 elephant seals on Middle Rock.

One big family

Maintenance/Chores

  • Pretty standard day.
  • Solar Panels remained unusually clean.
  • Ran the desalinator in the evening.

Boats

  • There was a near continuous stream of eco-tours today.
  • I saw at least 6, plus many fishing boats doing their own observations.
  • One dive boat was anchored near South Rock.

Mid Month Shift Change

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 0-10 knots
  • Sky: sunny with clouds
  • Water: 1′ chop

Ecological

  • There were 8 elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • In the afternoon, 5 of them headed down to the ramp for a dip, but none of them departed.
  • There seem to be less seagulls and cormorants than last time I was here.
  • By contrast, there seems to be more songbirds and ducks.

Maintenance

  • Everything seems to be in good order. Spent the afternoon unpacking and settling in.

Boats

  • Kyle picked up Anne around 10:00, and brought me out to Great Race around 11:00.
  • Saw one eco-tour in the reserve.
  • Several fishing boats out of the reserve.
  • A tug towing a large barge passed by the Rosedale Rock.
  • Another tug towing what looked to me like a pile driver passed to the north of the reserve.

Flowers, Birds, and Stuff

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 0-5 knots East, later up to 20 from the West.
  • Sky: sunny
  • Water: calm
Blurry like a painting 2

Blurry like a painting!

Ecological

  • I believe there are at minimum 3 elephant seals out on Middle Rock, perhaps 5.
  • The seagulls continue their coupling and courting.

Maintenance

  • Added 36.5 gallons to the tidy tank from the one remaining diesel barrel.
  • It now has just under 82 gallons in it; should be good for a while.
  • Scraped the rust off the empty barrel and spray painted it blue.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.

Boats

  • One mostly empty eco-tour came by in the morning.
  • Lots of small fishing boats around the reserve today.
  • Only one passed through to my knowledge.

Almost empty eco-tour

One50Canada Photo Shoot

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 0-10 knots N
  • Sky: sunny
  • Water: calm

The Sunset

Ecological

  • Seagulls woke me up at 6:00, something that never happened in February.
  • Had an easier time shooing away the Canada Geese today.
  • The river otter was out exploring and rolling around. It delighted the visitors.

A pair of seagulls

Maintenance

  • I helped Chris and Kyle install the new wifi “distributor” at the top of the tower.
  • Later I tidied up the extra cord, searched for outdoor rated Cat5 (unsuccessfully) and measured out the distance required for the future permanent cord. Twenty-five feet if you’re interested!
  • Cleaned the solar panels.

Boats

  • Two eco-tours came by at around 11:00.
  • Second Nature docked on the jetty at 11:00 and departed at 13:00.

Visitors

  • Chris came by in Second Nature with Kyle (a new dock hand) and a group of three from the One50Canada project.
  • Their names are Martin Gregus, Martin Gregus Jr. and Elena Gregusova.
  • The two Martin’s are trying to make the largest documented collection of photos and information about what Canada is like in the years around 2017, her 150th year of independence. The final project will include a massive coffee table book.
  • They were interested in all aspects of the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve.
  • They took photographs of and asked questions about the mammals, birds, lighthouse, other buildings, vintage Coast Guard equipment, First Nations rock formations, etc.
  • If you are interested in learning more about the One50Canada Society, check out their website at: http://www.one50canada.ca/index.html

The One50Canada family

Sunny Day Back on the Rock

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Log Entry by Riley Strother

Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Sky: sunny
  • The mercury hit 11C today (which is over 50F!) so you know it was a warm day.

Ecological

  • Spent 30 minutes in the morning chasing the Canada Geese off the island. I did so by walking around the perimeter of the island, and every time I completed a loop the original pair would have returned, necessitating a further loop to invariably chase away some other returned pair.
  • Eventually I only had to walk about once per hour to scare off any geese that had returned. By the evening there only remained one persistent pair near the Students’ House.
  • As Anne has noted, there are lots of gulls and they take to the sky at the slightest swoop of an eagle.
  • It looked to me as though there were 4 elephant seals hauled out on Middle Rock.
  • Several times today the sea lions seemed agitated by the boats that perhaps got a bit too close. They generally chose to bark rather than stampede though.
  • I saw the river otter in the afternoon, my favourite Race Rocks character. It’s good to be back. Thornton W. Burgess should write a book about him/her.
Agitated Sea Lions

Oft’ agitated Sea Lions

Maintenance

  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • Settled back in to the house for my short stay.

Boats

  • As befits a beautiful statutory holiday, there were many boats about today.
  • Anne dropped me off in the Whaler in the morning.
  • Five eco-tours came through the reserve to look at the sea lions.
  • The Prince of Whales came by two times. The first time they appeared to be speeding through the SW part of the reserve to join up with the catamaran.
  • The large Eagle Wings catamaran came by twice.
  • An unidentified black eco-tour came by in the late afternoon.
  • One pleasure craft with a family on board passed through the South Channel, which is definitely too close to the sea lions.
  • Two fishing boats came by. The first one seemed too close to the sea lions. The second one appeared to be going too fast.
  • The Pacific Scout pilot vessel passed to the north of the reserve.
  • The Sir Wilfred Laurier patrol vessel passed to the south of the reserve.

Other

  • Got a phone call from a wrong number; someone asking for Mike. That seems rather unusual.

Shift Change Delayed by Gale

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 20-40 knots E, later S, W, and N.
  • Water: 3′ chop
  • Sky: overcast and rain

Ecological

  • Chuckles was gone all day.
  • Chunk was hanging out under the water beside the jetty at 18:00.
The only sign of Chuckles

The only sign of Chuckles.

Maintenance

  • Cleared logs off the ramp.
  • Final bit of tidying and packing in the main house.
  • Typed out and sent off sea water data report for February.

Boats

  • Conditions were unsuitable for a shift change today, as no boats were able to traverse between Race Rocks and the college.
  • The HMCS Ottawa was out near Esquimalt today.
  • Watched the Coho chug across the straight headed for Port Angeles in the afternoon.
The Coho Ferry

The Coho Ferry

Last Full Day of the Shift

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots East
  • Water: 1′ chop
  • Sky: mix of sun and cloud

Ecological

  • Chunk and Chuckles still in their respective positions on Great Race.
  • Noticed over 50 harbour seals today.
  • In general much more wildlife than yesterday.

Maintenance

  • Ran the fire pump for 40 minutes. This added about 1′ of water to the cistern.
  • Filled up the tidy tank using the equivalent of one barrel of diesel (55 gallons).
  • Stacked more firewood.
  • Emptied the ash from the wood stove in the main house.
  • General tidying up in the house to make it ready for the next Eco-guardian.
  • Wrote my shift end report.

Boats

  • One pleasure craft was hanging out near West Rock in the morning.
  • In the afternoon one eco-tour came through Middle Channel. It was a strange looking boat that I had never seen before with the words “Luna BC” on it.
  • The HMCS Ottawa was out in the straight. According to the Marine Traffic website it made it all the way out to the open ocean today.

Other

  • I couldn’t get the camera to take any photographs today. I think I bumped one of its many buttons (most of which I don’t know what they do) as it appears to be on a different setting than I am used to.