Light Westerly wind rising to 15 knots
Early that day Guy help taking Amatuana from the college to Sooke for some check up and I stayed on the island doing the island business and enjoying the place at the same time.
By the way he filled up the gas tanks for the boat at Pedder bay.
We had a few whale watchers around but no visitors.
When he came back at 3PM it was still clear but an hour later we were in a thick fog wall. We could hardly see something beyond 50 meters. The foghorn has been working from 4Pm to 6Pm and after that all a sudden we were in another clear day, ready to enjoy a beautiful sunset. In the evening the wind raised 30 knots.
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A Californian Sea Lion on the railway
Nice weather, almost no wind and very sunny We were expected more wind and it came but late in the evening and raised to around 30 knots. Like usual it was a west wind.
Floyd and Chunk have not been in sight for a while now I would say that Floyd disappeared 7 days ago and Chunk 5 days ago. The little one left 3 days ago. The 2 big one were at that time really slim and it would be not surprising if they would be gone for good. Just the new young female is still around and yesterday we had the surprise to find this little elephant seal (in the rocks) closed to female Californian seal taking a nap on the railway. She was very curious of us and it was really a pleasure to spend time looking at this so gracious animal. She stayed there for at least 5 hours because she was just at the same spot when we came back for the water sampling. We really had to go on the jetty and she couldn’t handle to have us just above so she softly glided in the water.
At the same time closed to the jetty we were the witnesses of the first bath of a gull chicken. Nice! And on the other side you could see 2 beautiful shorebirds called Ruddy Turnstone easy to identify. Lot of life is going on around.
From the eco guardians house windows in the morning I could count 87 chickens. Now they are big enough and are not anymore closed to their birth spot. Actually they are really everywhere and on the high rocky spot too. At date we found 3 dead bodies of young gulls. The last one was on the stairs of the house.
Those days we had a lot of whale watchers around, closed to 20 each day.
Fishers and Hunters : Stewards of the Environment?
We received a copy of this article from a Sooke newspaper in July. It never ceases to amaze me how some people can be so out of touch about conservation and species and ecosystems at risk. It seems that some think that as long as “humans have it all ” then it doesn’t matter about others with whom we share the resources of this planet.
Day off !
It has been 10 days without leaving this nice place so it was good to have a little break even if coming back delighted us…
No wind, no current, flat sea.
The South, South West wind brought a very iodineic smell above the usual strong smell of the island at this time of the year!
We have noticed very high tides those days and especially on that day( full high tide in the night around 11PM).
When we came back around 6PM a pleasure boat was anchored just on the other side of the jetty. I will say 30 meters. They seemed not understand why they were not allowed to do so! And soon they got some problems ( had to dive ) because their anchor got stuck in the kelp or rocks! At least that we didn’t have to explain! for the rest they were gone …before we got the camera .
Around 9PM with the coming darkness and a lovely pearl colored sky, we had (first time that happened at that time of the day) the last watching boat of the day.
Nursery Island
Friday: Nursery island
It was still 20 knots when we awake but the rest of the day was pretty calm from 15 knots to 22 at the most. What a change! We could see very far that day…
After so much wind we were not alone outside enjoying a normal summer day. ..We could call the rock “Nursing Island “because chicks are really everywhere and the gulls pretty nervous never stop between feeding the young one and watching out for danger. No way to go around without your yellow helmet like a big bill on the top of the head! Those birds hit you once but not two times and it hurts! You remember!
We had another show from Chunk and the young female in the water .She really wanted to please him! Even after weeks we are still amazed by those attaching animals. They have lost a lot of weight and are now pretty active spending a lot of time in shallow water and each time going back and forth from water to grassy spot.
Desalinator and generator have been on for a few hours. Everything is working perfectly
July 7th Chicks everywhere
July 7th Tuesday: Chicks everywhere
No more rescue boats around anymore but a tourist plane flew by the island once.
Moderate West wind was between 14 knots to a maximum of 20 knots. No fog and still a little bit of a yellow haze in the sky.
We saw Floyd and Chunk swimming closed to the South islands
From the front window of the main house we could count around 20 chicks mainly under the parent’s wings but they grow pretty fast. The adults behavior is changing they become very active doing their job, protecting each other and the chicks feeding the young ones and going fishing. They are getting aggressive. We have to wear a helmet all the time but they know us and now they just make us know that they are ready to attack. There are still a few eggs not yet hatched but not so many.
July 5th 2015 –Tragic day around the rock
The day has been pretty warm, heavy with no wind at all and a little bit later it changed, coming from South.
Even if we are washing the solar panels everyday it became worse with sea gull droppings and now we need at least 2 full buckets of fresh water.
Around 9:30 I would say, we saw, as did everybody in Southern B.C., that eerie sky but I can tell you that it was like a Hitchcock movie here with the shouting birds all around.
Pretty sad day and what was to come was even sadder. We first saw a boat with divers close to Turbine and West rocks, followed by a Coast Guard zodiac and later a helicopter from Rescue Canada…So a serious matter was unfolding. A diver had not returned after his dive…Late into the night they continued searching. The helicopter flew by the island many times and birds were getting crazy. We even saw a Canadian Frigate, a Canadair plane and another plane too.
In the middle of all this traffic at one point we spotted 2 orcas on the way. It was the only comforting sight of the day.
In total all kinds of boats have been around today: 3 kayaks, 3 or 4 whale watchers, 1 sailboat and 1 small fishing boat in the middle of the passage playing in the current, 1 submarine, 1 diving boat,1 rescue boat,1 navy boat and above a helicopter and 2 planes . What a busy day.
See Times Colonist Article: Searchers hunt for missing diver near Race Rocks
Update: July 9-The search is still going on for the missing diver.
Chunk ‘nd the Trunk
It was a glorious day at Race Rocks with westerly winds continuing from yesterday but with more moderate speeds of 15 – 25 knots and even lighter winds of 10 – 15 early in the morning. The sky was clear above although there was a ‘marine haze’, which reduced visibility early to less than ten nautical miles. As the winds picked up so did air quality leading one to wonder if the ‘marine air’ actually has an onshore and anthropogenic source. Solar radiation intensity was high today peaking at over 900 W/m2. It is 19:00 hours as I write this, with more sunshine to come and the accumulated solar radiation for the day is already close to 700 Langleys. The forecast includes a westerly gale warning for tomorrow afternoon and evening with clear skies and a high UV index of seven.
Only one whale watching boat (from Sooke) was observed in the Ecological Reserve today.
There were more large and startling (at least to me) explosions today, which did not result in even a visible flinch by the Northern Elephant Seals. The Harbour Seals got into the water and were looking around at the surface and the Pigeon Guillemots flew but quickly returned and recovered. Two vessels with containment booms, one travelling at a fairly urgent-looking speed towing some of the booms were observed in the vicinity of Race Passage today. It may have just been an exercise, as they didn’t stay long.
Ecologically, things are continuing to grow at a tremendous rate as spring accelerates for the shift into summer, in less than two weeks. The goslings have graduated from short paddles to longer endurance swims crossing Middle Channel. Their grazing pressure on the island continues but doesn’t seem to exceed the productivity of the grasses that they graze on.
In the water, the productivity of Bull Kelp or Nereocystis lutkeana continues unabated and large, well formed kelp beds fringe all of the islets and reefs, producing tremendous amounts of food for a broad array of direct grazers and both peripheral and out-lying detritovores that eat the sloughing bits and pieces that drift down from the canopy and out of the kelp beds.
The Northern Elephant Seals spend time in the water draped in the kelp and playing with it with their mouths. What is not clear is whether this is intentional or just there (in the way). The big males are taking several swims a day right now thanks to the marine railway, which makes access so much easier for them. Chunk’s moult is just visibly starting today, on his nose and just below his mouth and on what would be a chin if he had one. Floyd’s moult is progressing visibly as wound sites and patches where he can scratch are coming off. There were some interactions between the two big guys today but hostilities were averted through strategic maneuvering by Floyd, basically avoidance behavior. Above, he is making a slow get-away which of course requires a tremendous amount of energy and much resting.
More gulls are sitting on eggs each day and their nests are beautifully made by pulling up grass by the roots and carefully packing it into just the right shape by pushing down with their sternums, tails in the air. Level is of course important. All of the nests observed today had three eggs.
There were no visitors today and chores were routine.
Two missing divers found- Times Colonist June 6, 2015
Two divers have been found safe after their failure to surface sparked an extensive rescue operation on Saturday.
The divers — one experienced and one inexperienced — went into the water about 11:10 a.m. and were expected to surface near Race Rocks at noon.
At 12:30 p.m., the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre alerted search-and-rescue crews from Sooke and Victoria, a Royal Canadian Air Force Cormorant, the Canadian Coast Guard and West Shore RCMP to the incident.
Hoping the divers had drifted, the Sooke crew searched an area 0.5 nautical miles west of Race Rocks, according to a post on the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue – Station 37 Sooke’s Facebook page.
“One of our spotters who was using binoculars noticed something black and shiny at the surface of the water south-east of our position. We navigated the vessel towards the area and realized that we were spotting some harbour porpoises,” the post said.
While awaiting direction from the Coast Guard regarding which area to search next, the team once again spotted something in the distance.
“This time, it was a much larger object in the water. We quickly navigated to that area and located the two missing divers who were very happy to see us.”
The crew gave them a quick medical check and notified the rescue centre, the post said.
“Tired and relieved, they both appeared to be fine. … The other divers and their vessel met us on-scene and we passed the two individuals over to them.”
– See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/missing-divers-found-safe-near-race-rocks-1.1960756#sthash.4k5v3Rgd.dpuf
Concern for the 19 Marine Ecological Reserves which could be affected by the KM/TMX pipeline.
The Board of Friends of Ecological Reserves, submitted their final report as Intervenors in the National Energy Board Hearings on the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Expansion Project.
http://ecoreserves.bc.ca/2015/