Category Archives: Admin

Check up for the whaler

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Weather

West lo southwest light winds under 20 knots have been on  almost all the time since last week. We got some fog and the fog horn running the whole night between Sunday and Monday to a stop at 8:30 in the morning.The rest of the day was sunny with a flat sea…DSC_0191

Ecological

At low tide the water was pretty far discovering an interesting world of rocks covered with fresh algae. We could count only 4 sea lions (Steelers) around and 60 chickens seen from the front window. If we compare with last year we had 110 sea lions and 87 chickens from the front window .What a different situation.Last year the first one on the jetty came on the 23rd.We will see …the usual 4 elephant seals are most of the time sleeping on Main Rock and the babies are growing fast. Not so much drama I guess because they have enough space but the gulls closed to the path are still defensive and this night a new one was born with 2 more coming (the last ones )so it’s going to be even more difficult to go the jetty! No new dead birds.(only 3 to now ) On Sunday we could count more than 16 whale watching vessels  way beyond the green boyd because of a long pod of orcas.DSC_0217DSC_0220

Maintenance

Guy changed the boat pump for a more efficient one.It was 360 GPM and now it’s 750. He left in the fog early on Monday because of an appointment with a Yamaha specialist. At the college they took the whaler off the water and put it on a trailer.We took the zodiac until the trailer is ready. Camera 3 has been stoppedDSC_0194

Other

3 times this week we had a plane above. Watching boats like usual.

 

 

Chunk vs. Chuckles

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 0 knots most of the day, until the evening when it hit 40 knots West
  • Sky: clear and sunny
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • 14 elephant seals on Great Race; 2 on Middle Rock.
  • Chunk and Chuckles engaged in friendly water battles for over an hour.
  • The tagged female elephant seal from California is still around.
  • The single odd looking seagull egg from May 29th has turned into 2 normal gull eggs.

Maintenance

  • Topped up the tidy tank with diesel.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • General cleaning up.
  • Wrote the month end report.
  • Sent off the May seawater data.

Boats

  • At 12:30 there were 5 large eco-tours in the reserve at once. This might be too many at once?
  • What is quite probably the largest eco-tour I have ever seen came through Middle Channel today.

Other

  • At least 7 DND blasts today.
  • They came at 9:46, 9:47, 9:48, 10:29, 10:29, 10:30, and at 11:03.
  • The first 6 were medium blasts; the last one was huge.
  • Usually we are notified ahead of time of blasting, but the most recent email only indicated blasting from June 1-3.
  • Today is the last full day of my shift. Guy and Christine will be taking over tomorrow.

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The Grand Sailboat Regatta

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Weather

  • Visibility: 8 miles in the early morning, 15 later on
  • Wind: 15-20 knots East, then North, then West
  • Sky: foggy and overcast, then sunny, then overcast
  • Scattered raindrops throughout the day
  • Water: mostly calm, with swells in the afternoon

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Ecological

  • Maya and Tazi conducted 4 intertidal transects today.
  • Studying an intertidal transect involves measuring out a certain distance from a peg, and then documenting the different species found every 0.5 metre.
  • In some transects the 0.5 metres are measured by water elevation; in others simply by distance.
  • By comparing the species found in every zone of the transect with transect data from previous decades, you can see the change in intertidal ecosystems due to climate change.
  • We saw a California Sea Lion with the brand U374 and another with a tracker.
  • While most of the gull eggs all look the same, one particular egg is quite different.

Maintenance

  • Maya and I ran the fire pump in the morning.
  • This added a few inches to the cistern.
  • We removed the old Canadian flag and hoisted a fresh one.
  • Tazi and I removed some algae.
  • Ali whacked away at the thistles.
  • We cleaned the solar panels.

Boats

  • Over 150 sailboats from Victoria passed by Race Rocks in the late morning on their way towards the Western horizon.
  • Some of them started to return as late as 22:30.
  • The colours of their sales included: red, blue, white, fluorescent yellow, green, purple, black, orange, and many combinations of all of the above.
  • Some standouts included the Miles Davis sail and the Union Jack.
  • I couldn’t stop taking photos and ended up with dozens. Below is a selection of the best.
  • One coastguard zodiac and a search and rescue boat appeared to be accompanying the sailboats.
  • Several eco-tours came by, including one Eagle Wings tour that drove through the South Channel.
  • Passing through the South Channel is prohibited as the width is too narrow.

A Windy Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knots West in the morning, picking up to 30-35 by noon.
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: 3′ chop

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Ecological

  • I oversaw an enthusiastic day long census with Maya, Tazi, and Ali.
  • Discovered a new Black Oystercatcher nest with 3 eggs!
  • Maya and Tazi discovered a new Canada Goose nest.
  • I begin to suspect that our new elephant seal male is actually Chuckles.
  • If he did nothing but eat for 3 months straight, that would explain his girth.
  • Saw a Steller Sea Lion branded 9628.
  • We found a blood star, and Maya showed us various chitons.
  • Maya and Tazi did a transect.
  1. Harbour Seals: 190
  2. California Sea Lions: 42
  3. Steller/Northern Sea Lions: 39
  4. Elephant Seals: 15 (13 on Great Race, 2 in the Southern waters)
  5. Seagulls: 225 (Glaucous-winged)
  6. Pigeon Guillemots: 82
  7. Canada Geese: 36 (14 on Great Race, 22 flyovers)
  8. Black Oystercatchers: 8 (plus 2 nests with a total 5 eggs)
  9. Harlequin Ducks: 3 (2 male, 1 female)
  10. Cormorants: 3
  11. Barn Swallows: 2

Maintenance

  • We cleaned the solar panels.
  • Finished cleaning the boathouse floor with T.S.P.
  • Repainted some rusty propane tanks.
  • Sanded the westward facing bench by the Students’ house.

Boats

  • Several eco-tours came by in the morning, but as wind picked up they disappeared.

The Return of Chunk!

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 15 knots West most of the day, 30-40 in the evening.
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: 2′ chop

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Ecological

  • This morning there was a new large male elephant seal on Great Race.
  • He is far larger than any of the other ones here.
  • Then in the evening Chunk arrived on the Western part of the island, equalling the new male in size.
  • Chunk was last reported as being on Great Race on March 4th of this year.
  • Chuckles was last sighted on Great Race on February 29th of this year.
  • I don’t think the other one is Chuckles, as I remember Chuckles being smaller.
  • 15 in total on Great Race.
  • Lots of entertaining e-seal sparring and interactions, much to the delight of the students.

Maintenance

  • In the morning, the 4 of us finished uncovering the brick feature under the flywheel.
  • We also cleaned the algae off of the flywheel and cleaned the solar panels.
  • In the afternoon we scraped paint chips off the white railings near the derrick.
  • Did the old water sampling method, as the YSI wasn’t turning on.

Boats

  • Lots of eco-tours today.
  • Most of them appeared to go too close to the sea lions.
  • Several sailboats out on the water; beautiful!

Other

  • Approximately 10 DND blasts today at the more easterly detonation station on Bentinck.
  • This included blasts at 9:30, 9:40, 10:00, 12:48, 12:49, & 12:51.
  • The initial blast scared several sea lions into the water.
  • By my personalized scale, the first five were medium blasts, the final five were huge.
  • For those of you wondering, my scale goes something like this: small, medium, big, huge, massive.

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Arrival of the Students!

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knots West
  • Sky: mostly cloudy
  • Water: 1′ chop

Ecological

  • 14 elephant seals on Great Race.
  • 1 on Middle Rock.
  • I saw 6 cormorants today. Higher than most census counts these days.

Maintenance

  • Cleaned some windows this morning.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • The students did more window cleaning after they had settled in.

Boats

  • Kyle and Guy brought out Maya, Tazi, and Ali to stay at Race Rocks until the 30th.
  • About a dozen eco-tours came by today.

Visitors

  • Maya, Tazi, and Ali are now staying in the Students’ House.
  • They will be of much help in the chore and social departments.

A Fine Day

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Weather

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

Ecological

  • 14 elephant seals on Great Race.
  • The e-seals “slept in” so to speak, before migrating down to the ramp for water play time.
  • Some of them continued their sparring back on the grass.
  • Noticed a few seagull fights.
  • In the evening an eagle was harrowing the seagulls.

Maintenance

  • More painting!
  • More weed whacking!
  • Set up the Student House for tomorrow’s incoming three!

Boats

  • Several eco-tours, though not as many as yesterday.
  • Most of them appeared to get too close to the sea lions near the derrick.
  • Also one pleasure craft that did the same.

 

A Dozen+ Eco-Tours

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind :15-25 knots West
  • Sky: mix of sun and clouds
  • Water: 1′ chop

Ecological

  • Down to 14 elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • Lots of sea lions on the rocks near the derrick.

Maintenance

  • Glued the edge of the desalinator bunker door back on.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.

Boats

  • Between 15-20 eco-tours came into the reserve today; I lost count.
  • Most of them appeared to be too close to the sea lions at one point or another.
  • Once there were 4 eco-tours in the reserve at the same time.
  • Another time there were 5 eco-tours within the reserve.
  • Two times the small Prince of Whales boats went THRU the South Channel.
  • When marine mammals are present, this channel is too narrow for boats to pass through (the minimum distance for boats viewing marine mammals is 100 metres!)
  • Both times there were many sea lions present, including several that were already swimming in the channel or near the entrances.
  • Most of the sea lions were at the right hand entrance to the channel. Unfortunately both times the boat had already passed thru that entrance before I could get a photo.
  • I did get some photos of one PoW boat in the middle of the channel, and exiting it.
  • Several pleasure craft passed through the reserve as well, including a sail boat that was towing a smaller boat (reminiscent of motorhomes that tow cars).
  • I wasn’t able to get photos of all these boats, as I didn’t always have the camera on me. I also accidentally deleted a few photos.

 

Boats too close?

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 15-20 knots West
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • 15 elephant seals on Great Race.

Tower of gulls

Maintenance

  • More painting!

Boats

  • At least 8 eco-tours today.
  • Several of the tours, and one pleasure craft, appeared to be too close to the marine mammals.
  • The guidelines specify a distance of at least 100 metres.

New Tiny Elephant Seal

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 0-5 knots SW
  • Sky: overcast in the morning, sunny all day!
  • Water: calm
  • Beautiful day!

Ecological

  • Saw a California sea lion branded U33 (perhaps U?33)
  • 16 elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • A very tiny seal (though weaner sized, based on its coat a yearling) spent the afternoon on the rocks near the jetty.
  • It had very little interaction with the bigger elephant seals, and then it swam away.
  • 3 elephant seals on Middle Rock.
  • Saw a hummingbird today.

Brand U33

Maintenance

  • Painting.
  • Ran the desalinator.

Boats

  • Many eco-tours came by today. At least 10.
  • Some of them appeared to be too close to the sea lions near the derrick.