Wildlife notes

The first gull eggs are being laid. Most gulls are not at this stage – some are still just building nests, mating and fighting over territory – I suppose the fighting never really stops.

The wind picked up in a hurry today. In the span of two hours, winds went from SSE 4 to WNW 35.  The house is moaning and quacking. I have a fire going, wearing long underwear and a down sweater. An incredible evening to be looking out the window watching the waves build as the high winds continue and the tide switches to an ebb (e.g. the tide opposing the wind). I am glad I took the sea water measurements before the waves were washing over the Jetty.

View at 5 pm to the south

Facility work

• cleaned solar panels
• cleared south electric fence of vegetation
• topped up battery fluid levels
• measured specific gravity of the battery fluids. The values were not optimal, so I will run an equalization charge tomorrow.

DND

Several blasts were heard today. Wildlife appeared undisturbed.

Vessels

• ecotourism:11
• private: 4

Weather

Winds light and variable until 2pm, going from SSE 4 to W 23 at 3pm, building to WNW 35 by 4pm. Strong winds throughout the evening. Sunny. Daytime temperatures: low 12, high 19.

Wildlife notes

The only notable event of the day was an eagle made away something fleshy red and torn apart. Other wise it was a relative calm and sunny day. It even felt warm here.

Elephant seal blowing bubbles

CA sea lion floating on his back

Facility work

• cleaned solar panels
• weeded walkways to Tank Shed and Boat Shed

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 10
• Private: 3

Weather

Wind 3-16 knots, direction variable. Seas calm. Daytime temperatures: low 10,  high 17.

Calm seas, looking toward Mount Baker

I wasn’t outside much today on account of the wind. I lowered the flag this morning to keep it from getting shredded, had a peak at the solar panels and decided 30 knots was just too much to be up on the roof. Apart from taking the sea water measurements, it was mostly a house cleaning day. I tackled the kitchen cabinet doors, the fan hood and screen and the toaster. Next house day, I’ll go at the gas stove and the kettle. Lots of product was used today but it looks great!

Dirty and clean

I cleaned the fan hood above the stove. There are labels on various things here like tool cupboards or drawers or fuse panels but this one over the stove is my favourite.

Wildlife notes:

The elephant seal females had the ramp to themselves today. They could approach the water at their leisure without Chipped Tooth, the dyspeptic male CA sea lion, to deal with.

It appears we are down to 3 elephant seals. One of the two-year-old little ones has been absent for two days now. I’m sad it has gone but they have lost so much weight and will all need to leave at some point.

The elephant seals are much more pleasant to watch and easier to deal with when it comes to accessing the Jetty than the CA sea lions.

CA sea lion going about his business. I am so glad I don’t have to watch them mate.  The gulls and their prolonged courtship displays are most entertaining.

Facility work

• DID NOT clean the panels today
• cleaned house

Vessels

• ecotourism: 1
• private: 0

Weather

Strong WNW winds with gusts to 34 knots, diminishing to 16 by late afternoon. Partly cloudy. Another day squeaking by on solar power without the need for the generator. At 8 am 48.9 V and a 34% charge on the battery.

Cooking instructions for the rice I cooked today. Surely they don’t mean under at running tap. How many liters of water would I waste in 1 minute?

Dyspeptic is the Merriam-Webster Word of the Day for May 25, 2025

“A formal and old-fashioned word used to describe someone who is bad-tempered (in other words, easily annoyed or angered), or something that shows or is characteristic of a bad temper”

Dyspeptic

I thought of the California sea lions, in particular the one who keeps hogging the boat ramp. We have the Jetty electrified but keep the boat ramp passable for the elephant seals. Unlike the sea lions, the elephant seals can’t bend their rear legs under themselves to move about over rocks or large obstacles. They can only drag themselves on their bellies by pulling themselves forward using their front flippers. The ramp is the only way for them to get on land here.

Today I watched the two larger elephant seals try to get to the water. He wouldn’t budge. They were forced to slither around him to the right against the jetty wall and over the bits of exposed rusty metal from the rails.  He even bit them as they passed!. A few hours later the small elephant seal was forced onto the rocks to the right side of the ramp. It was hard to watch the small one trying to get herself to the water.

I know this cracked tooth guy. He is reticent and very difficult to move. When I have needed to get the daily sea water readings,  I’ve tried the herding board on him many times but I need to get so close it isn’t safe to approach him. Today, motivated by his bad behaviour, I decided I needed to try harder. I used the wheel barrow, figured it would keep me a good distance away and I could drag the legs to create some noise and vibration. Works like a hot damn!

Facility work

• cleaned the solar panels
• cleared the north electric fence of vegetation

Vessels

• ecotourism: 7
• private:1

Weather

Winds 10 to 22 knots, variable throughout the day, from SE to NW.  Clear in the morning, cloudy in the evening – enough sun for the batteries; generator hasn’t run since May 20 :)

It was a glorious sunny perfectly calm morning on a slack tide when a paddle boarder approached Race Rocks from the west. What perfect conditions, what perfect timing! I thought now that’s a person living their best life. I wanted to yell out HELLO! from the roof of the Energy Building but didn’t want to ruin their experience. After an hour they slowly paddled off to the north.

The conditions and timing were terrible for the other 98 boats approaching from the north. It was the 80th annual Swiftsure race. At least the navy knew about the race this year and didn’t raise a submarine in the middle of the fleet.

At 11:00 the boats were spread across the horizon, with two boats in the center of pack clearly in the lead. The two lead boats headed straight to Race Rocks and reached a stand still around 11:15. The maximum flood current today was 4.7 knots at 12:17. With the light SE winds of 4 knots they were unable to the fight current and were loosing way, travelling backwards. During their struggles in the current by North Rock, the boats that headed toward Williams Head and took the shore route continued to cover ground. However only the two lead shore boats had the timing right. They managed to squeak past Bentinick Island just in time and sailed up Juan de Fuca Straight on the same tack until they disappeared on the horizon.

The two boats able to make it past Bentinck Island

The first two boat heading up Juan de Fuca Straight in 4 knot SE winds

The boats piled up at Bentinick island (foresails lowered, some maybe at anchor) and the smaller group around Race Rocks had to wait out the strong currents and light winds of 1 knot. Conditions improved enough around 14:00 for the boats to travel again. By 15:00 the winds were up to 15 knots from the west. It was fascinating to watch and I wonder what conditions are like for the boats now.

Boat waiting at Bentinck Island for conditions to improve

Facility work

• cleaned solar panels
• started clearing vegetation away from the electric fence line (We need these areas accessible to maintain the fences which are intended to restrict the sea lions to the rocky shore)

Vessels

• ecotourism: 19
• private: 10 (This number is higher than usual, probably due to Swiftsure, and several speeding infractions were observed)
• sailing vessels: 9
• paddle boarder: 1

Weather

Sunny. Winds calm in the morning, light and variable until early afternoon, building to westerly 24 by early evening.

The desalination system to produce fresh water for use on the island (e.g. cooking, dishes, showers, cleaning windows, solar panels, power washing etc.) is out of commission. Drinking water is normally brought in but now so is the house water, which is pumped from a large tank on the supply vessel and to the fresh water storage container. With limited water, activities like power washing walkways or buildings are put on hold but the solar panels must be cleaned daily.  Using a brush, bucket of water and a squeegee instead of the water hose to rinse the panels, brings water consumption down to about 4L. To save water in the house, I hold off washing the dishes until the cutlery runs out, about 4 days.

Dishwashing night with views of the gulls and Port Angeles in the distance.

There is a spy glass on the fresh water tank indicating water level in inches. I arrived late in day on May 15th with 16.5″ or 1868 L of water. Today it is at 1806 L, so I’ve done well using about 9L a day. I’ll really blow the budget in 5 days when it comes time to do laundry.  Our top loading washer uses 150L of water!

Today I cleared a path (hand weeding and weed whacking) along the side of desalinator building to the water tank shed. It is the long way around to the shed but once the gulls have chicks, it is the best approach. Staying close to the buildings will protect me from angry diving gulls, I won’t have to worry about terrifying chicks hiding in the grass, and from that direction, I’ll disturb the lowest number of gulls as possible.

Cleared path in front of water tank shed (left) and the desalinator building (right). Soon the area will be full of gulls.

Wildlife notes:

No unusual visitors to the island. The four elephant seals and the pelicans are still here. The gulls are going about their pairing, mating, fighting and nest building.

Facility work

• cleaned solar panels
• topped up battery fluid levels
• weeding

Vessels

• ecotourism: 2
• private: 2

Weather

Sunny, gentle westerly breeze until early evening. Winds forecast to reach westerly 30 in the evening so the flag will be lowered for the night. Daytime temperature: high 11, low 9.

Three boat loads of Pearson’s students, instructors and a couple of parents visited today. They learned about the sea lions, elephant seals, gulls, the history of the lighthouse, climbed the lighthouse and toured the facilities to learn how fresh water and energy are produced and stored on the island. On one of the trips an ROV was launched off the pier. It was super cool to catch a special glimpse of the dancing kelp underwater world and have a view of the sky with gulls flying overhead seen from below the water surface.

Race Rocks students (tiny specks) at the base of the lighthouse.

Wildlife notes:

Several young eagles visited the island early this morning. I found it interesting that once an eagle had landed, the gulls seemed complacent and even sat or stood nearby. The oyster catchers however were not as accepting and continued to harass the unwelcomed intruder. Their determination and insistence may by due to the fact that some of the oyster catchers have already laid their eggs, while the gulls have little invested at this point, being only in the nest building, pairing and mating stages. Or maybe the young eagle I watched sitting amongst the gulls was just an inexperienced hunter or it is only eagles in flight that are a danger to the gulls …all day I watch the creatures here and wonder why – never any closer to understanding.

Oystercatcher swooping at a young eagle on South Rocks.

Facility work

• cleaned the solar panels, too busy with the boats and visitors for much else

Vessels (partial count)

• ecotourism: 2
• private: 1

Weather

• moderate westerly breeze throughout the day, partial clouds. Day time temperature: high 11, low 9.

A group of Pearson College students were dropped off today to explore the island as an end of semester special treat. It was fun to watch thirteen very happy people wander about. I am glad the elephant seals were in the grass when the students arrived as there was much interest in these sleeping giants.

Two year old female elephant seal

Two of the visitors were alumni who stayed on the island for two weeks in 2016. Watching their glowing faces and hearing their stories of an unforgettable time spent surveying gull chicks and painting the jetty fence was extra special for me for they truly understood the power of this extraordinary place.

Pearson College’s new landing craft, the Pedder Explorer, leaving with a group of students

Facility work

• cleaned the windows inside the Keeper’s House
• weeded brick pathway at the Energy Building
• transferred diesel to the generator and refilled the tidy tank

Vessels

• ecotourism: 15
• private: 0

Weather

Winds calm in the am to westerly 15 in the evening. Skies partly cloudy, short scattered showers. Daytime temperatures: low 9, high 11.

There are many spring and early summer flowering plants to observe on Race Rocks but most of them are introduced species. I has happy to find the fringed redmaids (Calandrinia ciliata) growing in a dense mat near the top of east beach. This small annual flowering plant species is one of the few native species found here.

I have started on the thistle removal program again, only this year I am starting off double-gloved! It has heightened my awareness of how many introduced species there are on the island. It would be impossible to remove them all. Below are photos taken today of some of the introduced “weedy” plants in flower.

Facility work

• weeding/clearing walkways
• thistle removal

Vessels

• ecotourism: 8
• private: 1

Weather

Winds calm in the am building to WNW 25 in the pm. Skies partly cloudy. Day time temperature: low 9, high 12.