Category Archives: Admin

Blue Sky Grey Sky

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It was a blue-sky day at Race Rocks for most of the day, as the wind switched from west to northeast and then finally greyed over. The wind started light in the morning and rose to 36 knots NE, by late afternoon. The barometer climbed out its early morning hole of 993 hPA and dove back in as night fell. As I post the log it is falling past 989. The forecast is calling for the wind to drop and switch to southwest 15 to 25 knots Sunday afternoon and to light Sunday evening.

Four whale watching vessels were observed in the Protected Area today. They seemed to be travelling out to the west probably in search of migrating Gray Whales. They were a little more cautious on the south side, a trend, which tends towards sustainability.

The “sporty” halibut fleet was out fishing today. They anchor for the slackest part of the tide, spaced out like a beads on a necklace around the Ecological Reserve. Not all of them know about (or they choose to ignore) the ‘no go’ and ‘go slow’ limits of the Protected Area .

The reasons for speed limits in the Protected Area are the high density of marine mammals and birds and the location’s inherent dangers. Going slow protects the wildlife from boat strikes and reduces disturbance if boats stay far enough away. The no go areas also extend that protection to human life. I am not sure how many people have died in the waters around Race Rocks, but if it were a road intersection, it would have one of those high crash scene signs, combined with a wildlife crossing sign. I look forward to the day when boaters know and respect the rules. The quickest way for that to happen is by word of mouth and peer pressure. So if you boat in the area, please feel free to give others a friendly ‘reminder’ about the rules You might save their life. For the professional mariners, it is a very important part of being professional.

Chunk, the only remaining Northern Elephant Seal continues to slumber in the same spot. He has completely fried the vegetation where he is stretched out and seems to have lost a lot of mass since I saw him last fall. I guess he has been fairly engrossed with breeding, killing pups and fighting with other males. It must soon be time for him to head off and bulk up in the depths. He has massive “stretch marks” from slimming down to what looks like about 50% of his portly, fall physique.

There were a dozen Bald Eagles here today and the cormorants roosted on Great Race so it was possible to see the subtleties of the neon blue under the Brandt’s Cormorants’ chins and their whiskery white feathers.

The numbers of Canada Geese have risen rapidly, going from six, the day I arrived, to twenty by this afternoon. Canada Geese are protected under the Migratory Bird Regulations, however, they can wreck havoc on a tiny islet like Great Race, which is also used by other species that cannot easily, (unlike Canada Geese), nest elsewhere successfully. Like some people, they are loud, pushy and tend towards aggression, not making the best neighbours for nesting Black Oystercatchers, Pigeon Guillemots and Glaucous-winged Gulls. Although the status of all three of these nesting species, is ‘Least Concern’ as listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), we are hoping to keep them that way and discourage geese from staying (under strict permit from Environment Canada).

Other than wild goose chases, chores were routine today including camera and computer care.

Weaner deceased

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 12-17 knots E
  • Water: 1’ chop
  • Sky: clear
  • Beautiful day. Mt. Baker was clearly visible.

Ecological

  • When I got up in the morning, I discovered that the weaner elephant seal was dead. His head had been crushed in during the night by several bites. Chunk had blood stains around his mouth, while both the females had blood stains along their bodies. All 4 living elephant seals were across the path from the dead weaner.
  • Chuckles was with the mum and pup on Middle Rock, who still appear to be doing well.
  • In the afternoon Chunk went over to the dead weaner and rolled him over onto his back.
  • Saw a sea lion with the number “2” branded onto its back. The remainder of the sea lion was underneath a pile of the great beasts, so I could not see the full branding number.
  • There appeared to be half as many cormorants today as there were yesterday, but a similar amount of seagulls.

Maintenance

  • Cleared logs off the ramp once.
  • Cleaned bird droppings off the solar panels.
  • Reorganized the dry firewood and started storing the new firewood prepared by Alex.
  • Vacuumed up hundreds of fruit flies in the basement near the composting toilet.

Boats

  • One pleasure craft containing 4 people who were recreational fishing appeared to be just inside the boundary of the rock fish conservation area.
  • Two eco-tour boats came by this afternoon. The first one seemed to go too close to the islands, at one point a mere stones throw away from the dock. The second one also looked rather close at times.
  • Two navy ships were out and about near William Head. HMCS Whitehorse (705) and HMCS Ottawa (341).

Elephant Seal Birth Videos –The delivery

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Above, the mother elephant seal is having contractions. The pups nose and head start to become visible at the end of the clip.

The pup is born, steaming in the sun and the mother starts calling to it.

See Elephant Seal Birth part 1- start and end of birth
See Elephant Seal Birth part 2
See Elephant Seal Birth part 3 wide angle
See Elephant Seal Birth part 4

 

Never Ending North East

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Ecological

  • Wind NE 10-20 knots all day and all night and forecast to continue…barometer is trending upwards.  Clear sky most of the day. Temperature has been getting down to zero at night and sea water temp is at its lowest as of recently, 8.5 C.

Vessels

  • 3 eco tour boats in the reserve.  One of them passed through the channel between the inner South Island and Great Race while sealions were on the south island and southern shore of Great Race. The passage itself is less than 100 meters wide so it is impossible to go through there while sealions present without being less than 100 meters from them.  Additionally there was a second tour boat from the same company on the other side of the South island so the sealions were surrounded, this can increase likelihood of a disturbance.  A few sealions did exit into the water as the boats passed by.  UPDATE Jan 2: We received an email on Dec 31 from the captain of the boat involved in this incident.  He apologized for his mistake going through this passage and creating a sealion disturbance.  The other tour operator radioed him to tell him that passage in this channel is not allowed.   He had not been aware of it.  He said he would not do it again and would help spread the word.  We appreciate him getting in touch with us and are thankful for his accountability and commitment to preventing this kind of incident from occurring again.   

Maintenance

  • Tracked cable from offline charge controller to identify which row of panels it is connected to, second row from South side of roof.
  • fixed saw horses which were wobbly
  • scrapped and touch-up-painted diesel barrel with anti-rust paint
  • Cleared wood from ramp, ran derrick to haul in 2 decent logs.
  • Microwave connection went offline in the evening (internet and phone), will deal with it in the morning.

Dec 19th and 20th

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Ecological

  • Wind has continued to shift between predominantly West and South East reaching a peak of over 30 knots Sunday afternoon
  • Both male elephant seals have remained mainly on Great Race. Saturday morning there were signs of fresh wounds on the smaller male’s back.
  • Pelagic cormorants, with iridescent green and purple tinted black plumage,  were clearly distinguishable in the sunlight Saturday morning
  • A california sealion with brand number 8240 was seen Sunday afternoon

Marine Vessels

  • Saturday afternoon two ecotour vessels were seen in the reserve. They entered from around West Rock and proceeded up middle channel against a ~4 knot ebb while there were sealions hauled out on the West side of the Great Race.
    Traveling against the current as well as within 100 meters of marine mammals are both careless and unprofessional.
  • Sunday afternoon a group of sailing yachts circumnavigated race rocks passing inside the reserve occasionally.  They were out when windspeed was peaking at 30 knots.

Maintenance

  • Assessed wood stove and contacted supplier to get prices on replacement parts, two baffle tubes are burnt out, bottom brick liner is broken into several pieces and baffle is a bit worn.
  • Worked on generator fuel transfer, had some problems with transfer pump over loading filling pipe and backing up with fuel.  Spoke with Jeff about it and locating fuel gauge on day tank (its on the South side, against the wall).  Transferred one barrel of diesel to tidy tank then filled up day tank.
  • Sunday battery voltage was bellow 48V at 2 pm so started generator early and ran desalinator for 8 hours.
  • Oil level on desalinator high pressure pump was above fill line so drained some out before starting up.

Other

  • Went off island Sunday morning for some supplies and returned around noon.  Picked up a plug in watt meter to measure energy loads of appliances and re-stocked on newspaper for fire starting.

Sea lion Stampeed

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Juvenile Bald Eagle in flight

Juvenile Bald Eagle in flight

Ecological Happenings

  • A calm bright day with light winds and clear sky.
  • The female Elephant seal has been spotted on Middle Rocks. The two males and smaller Elephant seal remain on the main island.
  • Surf Scooters and Pigeon Guillemots observed to the north of the main island.
  • Whale spouts seen to the East of the rocks about 5nm out. Likely Humpbacks.

Marine Vessels

  • Two whale watching boats. Though they both respected the speed restrictions in the reserve one came too close to the rocks and caused the Sea lions to stamped into the water.
  • Several fishing vessels just outside the reserve.

Maintenance

  • Photo voltaics and windows to main house cleaned.
  • Rain-washed driftwood chainsawed into lengths for further rain-washing, splitting and drying.
Juvenile Bald Eagle

Juvenile Bald Eagle at camera 5

Juvenile Bald Eagle1

Juvenile Bald Eagle2

Whale watching boat comes too close and causes Sea lions to stamped

Whale watching boat comes too close and disturbs the Sea lions causing them to stamped into the water

Brandt's and Double-crested Cormorants

Brandt’s and Double-crested Cormorants

Sea lions looking shabby, but just molting

Sea lions looking shabby, but just molting

Race Rocks–too familiar

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Ed Note: This article is an important one that emphasizes the risks that are taken by the public in the waters around race Rocks. It is particularly noteworthy in that it also points out the risk to those involved in Marine Rescue.

From the Goldstream gazette,

  • Nov. 24, 2015 7:00 p.m.

Rescue society always there to help

Race Rocks is an area David Best is becoming all too familiar with.

Rescue society always there to help 

Race Rocks is an area David Best is becoming all too familiar with.

A member of the Victoria Marine Rescue Society Station 35, the 31-year-old has been called to the ecological reserve at the east entrance of the Juan de Fuca Strait three times in the last year.

Two of those rescues occurred within the last few months. One turned deadly when 27-year-old British police officer Timothy Chu became separated from his dive master and drowned.

On the afternoon of Nov. 15, Best was at home watching TV when he received another mayday call to respond to Race Rocks. This time nine divers were in the water after their boat was overturned by a ferocious wave.

Best, along with crew members Mike Deigan, Mike Graham and Earle Shirly, jumped into their Titan 400 rescue boat and left Ogden point, arriving at the scene 25 minutes later. Members from station 37 in Sooke also sprang into action.

“You are trying to think ahead as to what you need to have ready the second you show up,” said Best. “You are also thinking, what am I going to see here? Everyone in the boat is thinking the same thing.”

High winds were producing large waves between eight to 10 feet high. The crew arrived to find several people sitting on the haul of the overturned seven-metre aluminum boat. A couple more were in the water, clinging onto the boat’s side.

Standing on the back of The Tolonen, Best and one of his colleagues tossed a throw bag into the water, which releases 50 feet of line for victims to grab and be pulled to safety. The first man pulled in was an older fellow who was plummeted with huge waves crashing over his head. Once on board, the team discovered the man had mild hypothermia.

“He was shaken and cold, obviously. Somewhat in shock I think,” said Best, who estimates the man had been in the water, holding onto the overturned boat for a good hour. “He was pretty sore. He was just thankful that he was able to get on something solid and warm.”

Repeating the drill, station 35 pulled three more people from the frigid water and Sooke rescued another five. Two of the divers (from the CFB Esquimalt-based recreational Aquarius Dive Club) had mild hypothermia and others were left shaken by the ordeal. All but one of the nine people were wearing wet or dry suits.

Due to the heavy currents and strong winds often found at Race Rocks, Best said the area is dangerous to scuba dive. The only people that should be there are those who know what they are doing, but even then things can still go wrong.

Fortunately, the Victoria Marine Rescue Society is there to make sure help is always available to mariners in distress. The team of volunteers dedicate their time providing 24-hour, year-round emergency search and rescue services on the Victoria waterfront, stretching as far west as Sooke and east to Oak Bay. On average, 50 to 60 rescues are conducted every year.

Best has been with the station for a year-and-a-half. Every time he goes out on a rescue, he risks his own life to help save others.

“(It’s) a passion for adventure and a passion to help people,” said Best, who was out on the water training with the team during last week’s big storm.

“It helps me sleep at night knowing that I have a fire department down the street that if I have a fire in my house, they will help rescue my family and myself. I feel that this country and this town has given me more than I can ask for so I try to return the favour whatever way I can.”

The Victoria Marine Rescue Society is always looking for new volunteers and the vast majority of expenses are covered through donations and fundraising events. For more information visit vmrs.org.

Short-term Eco-guardian Position

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Race Rocks needs an Eco-guardian for 3 weeks–( December 2015)

Responsibilities include ecological observations, monitoring of marine activity and maintenance of equipment on the island. If you are interested, and for a complete position description, please call Pearson College and ask for Chris Blondeau.

250-three 91- 2 four 9 zero

Humpbacks!

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Ecological Happenings

  • Humpbacks have been around the reserve the last couple of days. Three were seen in one sighting and two in another.
  • Great weather today, although the temperature has dropped a bit. Chilly sunshine!
  • All Sea Lions, except one are settled at the south end of the reserve and southern rocks.
  • Harlequin ducks are making regular appearances.

Marine Vessels

  • Two tour boats today, which caught up to the humpbacks just outside of the reserve.
  • One pleasure vessel, came in to see the sights, although was travelling too fast through the reserve.

Nothing else to report.

 

Visitors and Helicopters

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Ecological Happenings

A nice day at RR today – moderate winds and clear sky. Nothing else to report.

Vessels

  • One pleasure vessel.
  • Two tour boats. One of these boats was travelling through the reserve quite fast. A few weeks ago, an email was sent to remind companies of the guidelines. Most have taken note and responded, yet there are some we see whizzing through.
  • Two Coast Guard helicopters were in and around the reserve, taking aerial photographs.

Other

  • 11 visitors on the island today, who used the student house for a meeting from 9:30am -12:00pm.