Category Archives: Marine Vessels

The Weaner Returns

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 10-15 knots North, later NW
  • Sky: mostly clear
  • Water: 1′ chop

Ecological

  • The weaner was back on Great Race today, over by the base of the tower.
  • The other male is still here too.
  • I saw some rock sandpipers today. Perhaps I failed to pick them out from the surfbirds yesterday.

Maintenance

  • Hand pumped more diesel into the day tank.

Boats

  • A few eco-tours.

Other

  • Lots of DND blasting today.
  • Big blasts at the following times:
  • 9:48, 9:50, 10:06, 10:22, 12:00, and 12:02.
  • Bigger bangs at the following times:
  • 14:09 and 14:12.

 

A No Weaner Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots North
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: rippled

Ecological

  • Census day!
  • The weaner was gone this morning. Hopefully he is ok.
  • Normally I only ever see killdeer at night, but today I saw a pair off and on all day!
  1. California Sea Lions: 85
  2. Harbour Seals: 44
  3. Steller (Northern) Sea Lions: 39
  4. Elephant Seals: 1 male
  5. Seagulls unspecified: 269 (same total two weeks in a row!)
  6. Pigeon Guillemots: 241
  7. Cormorants unspecified: 57
  8. Surfbirds: 49
  9. Harlequin Ducks: 32 (16 males and 16 females)
  10. Black Turnstones: 22
  11. Canada Geese: 13
  12. Black Oystercatchers: 9
  13. Bald Eagles: 6 (2 adults, 4 immature)
  14. Killdeer: 2

Boats

  • Kyle stopped by for 1 minute to exchange the extra security camera for a new Wifi access point.
  • There were several fishing boats literally yards outside the Rockfish Conservation Area.
  • A few eco-tours came by.

Maintenance

  • Installed the new Wifi access point in the Students’ House.

Other

  • Lots of DND blasting today.
  • Small blasts at the following times:
  • 10:25, 10:27, 10:45, and 12:34.
  • Larger blasts at the following times:
  • 12:32, 12:53, 14:52, 14:54, and 15:11.

Film Crew Island Visit

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots West in the morning
  • Around 15:30 the wind picked up to 25+ knots West. 18:00 peak at 42 knots.
  • Sky: overcast, then some blue sky, then some rain
  • Water: no visible wave crests, but lots of surge

Ecological

  • One of the larger male e-seals returned in the morning.
  • The weaner is still around.
  • Lots of bald eagles in the reserve.

Maintenance

  • Kyle and I took a look at the diesel hand pump and the desalinator.

Boats

  • Kyle came out in Second Nature with the 2 person film crew to take some footage.
  • Several eco-tours came by later on.
  • A few boats out fishing halibut just beyond the reserve.

Visitors

  • Kyle and the film crew were on the island for about 2 hours.

Other

  • Lots of DND blasting today.
  • There were blasts at the following times:
  • 10:00~, 12:50, 12:52, 13:12, 13:20, 13:23.

 

Film Crew Boat Tour

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knots N/NE in the morning, down to zero in the evening
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: 1′ chop

Ecological

  • The weaner did more wandering around today.
  • I observed/listened to a pair of bald eagles talking to each other.

Maintenance

  • Checked and topped up over 1/4 of the battery bank.

Boats

  • Kyle brought out a small film crew in Second Nature to film the Steller sea lions.
  • However it was too choppy at the jetty to land, so they simply did a boat tour instead.
  • A couple of eco-tours came by later on.

A Vibe Like No Other

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles, Mt. Baker clearly visible
  • Wind: 20-25 knots NE in the morning and evening, down to near zero in the middle
  • Sky: mix of sun and clouds
  • Water: 1′ chop

Ecological

  • The weaner went on a few adventures around the house. He even wiggled his way into the doorway, temporarily blocking me from entering the house.
  • Quite a few Canada Geese on the island.
  • Also some eagle action.
  • I saw one eagle flying around with a fish, but I couldn’t get a good photo.

Maintenance

  • Started checking the water levels in the battery room.
  • Tried to manually pump diesel into the day tank without much success.

Boats

  • Several eco-tours came by today.
  • A tug pulling a barge that had a couple of boats on it passed to the north of the reserve.
  • A bit redundant, transporting a boat over water, isn’t it?

Other

  • It was my birthday today.
  • Funny how it seems just like any other day when you are alone with no one to remind you.
  • A unique birthday vibe.

Sunny Day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles, Mt. Baker visible in the late afternoon
  • Wind: 0-5 knots North, later up to 10-15 North
  • Sky: clear and sunny
  • Water: rippled

Ecological

  • Still only the weaner on Great Race.
  • Very cute!

Maintenance

  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • Various daily and bi-daily tasks.

Boats

  • At least 4 eco-tours came by today.
  • One of them was likely too close to the sea lions on the South Islands, as there was a stampede.
  • One boat was definitely fishing within the Rockfish Conservation Area, but I was unable to identify any numbers on the boat, and I suspect they were First Nations, which would make it none of my concern.
  • One sailboat wandered through in the early afternoon.

A Gale of a Day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 25-30 knots West at 7:45
  • 40 knots West at 9:20
  • 43 knots West at 10:20
  • Down to 10-15 knots West by the evening
  • Sky: mostly clear, sunny from 12:45 on
  • Water: 1′ chop, later 3′ chop

Ecological

  • The two older elephant seals were gone by noon.
  • Only the weaner remains.

Boats

  • One eco-tour came by in the morning.
  • The amount of wake it was leaving made it look like it was going too fast?

Drizzly Kind of a Day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 10-15 knots North, later NE
  • Sky: overcast, periods of soft rain
  • Water: 1′ chop
  • Nice view of Mt. Baker this morning.

Ecological

  • The same 3 elephant seals on Great Race

Boats

  • Only saw one eco-tour today.

 

Whale Sighting!

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 10-15 knots West, later 5 knots South, then 5-10 West
  • Sky: clear and sunny!
  • Water: rippled

Ecological

  • Census day!
  • Shortly before 15:30 as I was counting shorebirds, I heard a loud noise to my right. Glancing over, I was thrilled to see a whale surfacing in the South Channel. I managed to get some photos as it resurfaced farther south-west.
  1. California Sea Lions: 79
  2. Harbour Seals: 69
  3. Steller (Northern) Sea Lions: 33
  4. Elephant Seals: 3, all on Great Race, 2 young males, 1 weaner
  5. Whale: 1 (I think it was an Orca)
  6. Seagulls unspecified: 269
  7. Pigeon Guillemots: 45
  8. Cormorants unspecified: 30
  9. Double Crested Cormorants: 9
  10. Surfbirds: 37
  11. Harlequin Ducks: 27 (15 males and 12 females)
  12. Canada Geese: 24
  13. Black Turnstones: 20
  14. Bald Eagles: 20 (4 adults, 16 immature)
  15. Black Oystercatchers: 6
  16. Rock Sandpipers: 4
  17. Crows: 3

Boats

  • A few eco-tours passed by today.
  • Second Nature came out with food supplies for me.
  • A large navy sailboat passed by north of the reserve.

Visitors

  • Kyle and Jeff came out in Second Nature.

Other

  • One helicopter flew just south of the reserve in the morning.

Muddy Shingles

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Weather

  • The 8am weather report.
  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 1 knot West, slowly rising all day until 20-25 k W after 21:00
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • Still the same 3 male elephant seals on Great Race.
  • The two larger ones returned from the water in the morning.
  • The weaner is still over by the base of the tower.
  • The spotted harbour seal returned to play near the jetty.

Maintenance

  • I collected up several muddy shingles from the middle part of the island.
  • Removed one large log from the ramp.

Boats

  • About 5 eco-tours came by today.