Category Archives: Island Visitors

Freeze up coming

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A group of visitors from the college was planned to arrive around noon but the trip was canceled due to poor weather conditions.

Weather:

  • Fog horn started up at 1 am, light fog, didn’t last very long.
  • Wind NE 15-25 knots most most of the day.
  • The forecast is calling for temperatures to fall below freezing in the coming days.
  • Fresh snow visible along the coast in Metchosin

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snow-dec-6-3

 

 

 

 

Maintenance:

  • Checked on exposed water lines, started up assistant house furnace to keep above freezing.
  • Did some clean up of blown off roof shingles, broken gutters, pipe, etc.
  • Ran derrick engine
  • Cleared boat ramp
  • Generator automatically shut down due to overspeed fault.
  • Requested new log peavey to replace old broken one.

Boats:

  • Photos below of The Argent Daisy, a chemical tanker, passing by Race Rocks.

 

The Accreditation Team

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 10 knots N
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: calm
  • Fresh snow on the Olympic Mountains.

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Ecological

  • 4 elephant seals on Great Race

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Maintenance

  • Stacked some fire wood.
  • Did some electric fence re-organizing.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.

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Boats

  • Kyle came out in Second Nature.
  • One pleasure craft came through the Middle Channel.
  • A few eco-tours came by.

Visitors

  • Kyle brought the accreditation team out for an hour long tour.
  • Three men: an Austrian, a Colombian, and a British via Tanzania.

Military Blasting

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 0-10 knots NW
  • Sky: mix of blue and clouds
  • Water: calm

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Ecological

  • A gaggle of 19 Canada Geese arrived on Great Race today.
  • The birds and sea lions weren’t too pleased with all the DND blasting.

Maintenance

  • The usual chores.
  • Took some ash out of the wood stove.

Boats

  • Kyle came by in Second Nature to pick up Natasha.
  • A couple of eco-tours came by.

Visitors

  • Natasha left today.

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Other

  • Lots of DND blasting today.
  • Small, medium, and large blasts.
  • 10:59, 11:16, 11:18, 12:01, 12:04, 12:51, 1:07.

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A Visitor

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles (Mt. Baker visible)
  • Wind: 5-10 knots NE
  • Sky: gently overcast
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • 5 elephant seals on Great Race.
  • 19 Canada Geese on the island.

Maintenance

  • Regular chores.
  • Kyle brought me some items for future application.
  • A thermometer and a 1″ H valve.

Boats

  • A few eco-tours came by today.
  • Kyle brought Natasha out for a visit.

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Sea Lion Corpse Removal

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Well well well, the tool bar on this blog post creator has disappeared. No more bullet points or photos. Maybe it’s just a Hallowe’en prank?

The weather this morning was overcast, with calm seas, a gentle breeze of 5-10 knots East, and a visibility of more than 15 miles. Later on the day was marked with periodic showers and winds gusting up to 30 knots West.

The sea lions continue to do their thing, clambering all over the rocky edges of the island, and generally making a nuisance of themselves around the jetty. They keep ramming into the finicky sliding door to the boathouse. There were five elephant seals on Great Race today.

Kyle and Guy came out in the afternoon to drop off some food supplies and help with the removal of the dead California sea lion. What an appropriate task for Hallowe’en. We hooked him up to a rope on the end of the derrick, and hauled him out to sea. Maybe I should have kept the skull for decoration tonight.

Only a couple of eco-tours today.

Well it’s fully dark outside now. I expect I’ll have my first trick or treaters any moment now. I hope they don’t mind bird poop instead of candy; it’s all I have in abundance out here!

Donor Visit

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles, then down to 5, up to 15.
  • Wind: 5-10 knots NE, E, and NW.
  • Sky: overcast, then foggy, then sunny, then rain.
  • Water: calm
  • Beautiful evening.

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Ecological

  • The cackling goose was gone today.
  • 7 elephant seals on the grass near the students’ house.

Maintenance

  • Added one 55 gallon barrel of diesel to the tidy tank.

Boats

  • Kyle came out with a group of 4 donors.
  • We gave them a tour of the island and buildings.

Visitors

  • 4 donors from Toronto Ontario/London England came out with Kyle.

Back Online

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Saturday evening as the storm was subsiding, the communication lines went dead out here at Race Rocks. After trying all the normal fixes on my side, I was informed via cellphone that the problem lay at Pearson College. The College had lost power from some internal breakdown, and so no internet or phone line was being sent my way over the air. Once things were up and running again this morning, I was able to reestablish connection to the internet and phone lines.

Rather than submitting a log entry for each missed day, I will simply provide a summary of each day’s main events. And pictures as always!

Saturday 15 October 2016-Fierce Storm

  • Day began at 7:00 with winds of 15-20 knots NE.
  • 9:45 30 knots East
  • 13:00 35 knots East
  • 13:30 45 knots East
  • 14:30 50~ knots East!
  • 15:20 45 knots East, communications down.
  • 16:50 communications returned.
  • 17:00 30 knots East
  • Around 18:30 communications down for good.
  • 19:00 15 knots West
  • 20:30 30 knots South-West
  • One month remaining in my shift.

Sunday 16 October 2016-Pelican

  • 7:00 Weather
  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 10-15 knots East
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: 1′ chop
  • Saw a single brown pelican today!
  • Failed to get a picture though.
  • Branded California sea lion 8465.
  • 8 elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • A small group of California sea lions began sleeping on top of the e-seals.
  • To my surprise the elephant seals don’t seem to mind.

Monday 17 October 2016-Peregrine Falcon!

  • 7:00 Weather
  • Visibility: 5 miles
  • Wind: 0-5 knots East
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: calm
  • In the early evening a pigeon flew into a window, presumably breaking its neck.
  • Immediately a Peregrine falcon swooped down to inspect its prey.
  • I assume the falcon was the reason the pigeon hit the window at such a speed.
  • The falcon then flew way up into the sky, before returning to make off with the meal.

Tuesday 18 October 2016-Bio-mimicry Visitors (and Alex!)

  • 7:00 Weather
  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 0 knots
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: calm
  • A rainstorm appeared from about 10:00-12:00.
  • A rather sunny afternoon!
  • Kyle came out with Alex Fletcher and a biology group.
  • The 6 visitors were studying bio-mimicry.
  • How can humans improve our technology by copying successful animals?
  • The organization that they are involved with is one of our donors.
  • They were very interested in the sea lions, seals, and birds.
  • 11 elephant seals on Great Race.
  • Saw 3 brown pelicans; this time got a photo!

The Advancement Team

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 10-15 NE
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: rippled
  • The first of three storms is expected to arrive tonight, bringing rain and wind.
  • A rather calm day though, with exquisite views of Mt. Baker!

Ecological

  • The elephant seals were in a playful mood today.

Maintenance

  • Reset the electric fence.
  • Stacked firewood.
  • Ran the new sea water pump into the cistern with Kyle’s help.
  • Looked at probably a dozen different systems and areas of concern with Kyle.
  • As ready as possible for the storm.

Boats

  • Second Nature brought the Advancement Team out today.
  • The Ogden Point Dive boat was in Middle Channel.
  • A few fishing boats and eco-tours passed by.

Visitors

  • Kyle and the Advancement Team.
  • The A’ Team is in charge of raising funds for Pearson College and Race Rocks.

Pearson Students and Brands

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 0-5 knots NE, later West
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • Saw two branded California sea lions.
  • U400 and U714.
  • Discovered a couple of recently deceased juvenile sea gulls.
  • Cause of death unknown.

Maintenance

  • The usual chores.

Boats

  • Lots of ecotours today.
  • One appeared to be going over the speed limit within the edge of the reserve.
  • Several times there were at least 3 in the Middle Channel.
  • Kyle brought two loads of students out in Second Nature.
  • One small boat was observed fishing illegally within the Rockfish Conservation area.
  • They were reported to the DFO.

Visitors

  • Kyle, Laura, 14 Pearson students, and 3 filmmakers came out.
  • The students were supposed to be doing wind and wave measurements, but Race Rocks was providing very little in that department today.

Other

  • Six pair of small DND blastings today.
  • They took place early in the hour, every hour, from the 10th until the 15th.

A Return To Race Rocks

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Ahoy, Riley Strother here. I have returned for another stint as eco-guardian here at Race Rocks!

Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: up to 35 knots NW in the evening.
  • Sky: mostly clear
  • Water: small waves

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Ecological

  • The sea lions continue to roam about the island like a herd of cats.
  • Sea lion moulting time is a new experience for me.
  • I observed at least 4 elephant seals.

Maintenance

  • When I arrived Anne was running the desalinator. I shut it off later.
  • I was given a tour of the various changes to certain systems by Anne/Kyle.
  • Spent a few hours unpacking and settling back into the house.

Boats

  • At least 20 ecotours came by today. None of them seemed to cause any problems, though some were perhaps too close?
  • I overheard what sounded like a rather heated exchange on the radio, but the boats in question were outside the reserve.
  • Kyle came out in Second Nature to drop me off, pick up Anne and Alex, and to transport the chimney sweep fellows.

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Visitors

  • Kyle.
  • Two chimney sweepers came to sweep the chimneys in each house, as well as inspect and change the filters in the furnaces.