Category Archives: Marine Vessels

Feb 15, orcas and traffic

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family of four orcas off the south side of Race Rocks

Sunny, wind NE 10-20 becoming 5-10 E.  4 orcas passed by in the morning heading east.

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Orcas beyond south island with halibut sports fishing boats and the Captain George, a 229mx 32m bulk carrier heading to Itaquai Brazil, in the background

There were several boats in the reserve again today, at least 10 whale watching boats and one dive boat, and at least 5 halibut fishing boats around the perimeter of the reserve in the morning. I raised a new Canadian flag on the flag pole for the anniversary of the flag. Worked on firewood cutting and organizing firewood storage.  The composting toilet in the assistant’s house still has liquid in the bottom though it is decreasing.  I can notice a relative draw on the battery bank while running the unit with it’s electric heating element and vent fan.

Feb 13-14 toilet and traffic

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composting toilet with steamy septic soup.

composting toilet with steamy septic soup.

Feb 13: Wind light becoming west 20 knots.  2 eco tour, 2 pleasure craft. Went off island in the morning to pick up guests.  Toilet in guest house has been running steady but liquid evaporation is going slowly.

Feb 14: Wind west 20 knots becoming calm and clear in the afternoon.  Male elephant seal was up in the jetty area in the morning. Took guest back to campus and ran some errands in town.  With the nice weather there was a lot more traffic in the reserve than there has been lately.  I was gone for a good part of the day but still saw 6 whale watching boats and 3 pleasure craft in the reserve when I returned.  There was some disturbance of the sealions, which exited into the water, caused by a few of the boats that were within the 100 meter marine mammal setback.

Feb 11-12, derrick and toilet

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Feb 11:  Cloudy, NE 10 knot wind.  In the morning Courtney came out on Second Nature with Tristan (Pearson volunteer) and scaffolding.  We had already put up two sections (5′ tall each) of scaffold with what we have on station so we added two more sections of rented scaffold to build a tower around 22′ tall below the derrick.  We secured all four sides with lines tied to various anchor points on the ground.  Standing on the top of the tower, the top of the derrick was just above my head height.  I greased the pulley and pried the cable out from its lodging on the side of the pulley to get it back in its track. We led the derrick cable down through the centre of the scaffolding and Tristan and Courtney re-attached the weighted hook which keeps tension on the line. We took down the scaffolding and sent the rented parts back to the college.  Derrick is finally back in action after months of being out of service and we now have a better and safer method for fixing and servicing the unit.  Thanks Courtney, Tristan and Chris.

On another topic, my dislike for the new composting toilet is increasing proportionately with the rising smell of stagnant septic in the basement of the assistant house…

Feb 12: Cloudy, wind light, periods of rain. 1 Pedder Bay Marina rental boat in the reserve that left the reserve going over the speed limit. I called the marina and they were to follow up with the operator.speeding feb 12

After venting the guest house basement as much as possible, it still stank in there.  I took apart the vent pipe and re-installed it with a bypass drain for rain water and excess moisture.  The pipe size on the toilet is non conventional (it says its 2″ PVC but of course it is not and it does not union with standard size pipe) so I installed a rubber union with clamps in order to transition to the ABS vent pipe already installed through the roof.  I installed a transparent pipe on the bypass so that it will be visible when there is liquid accumulation.  With the new vent pipe installed I plugged in the toilet to start heating up the septic soup again so that it will hopefully actually evaporate this time.

Jan 30-31

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Jan 30: Clear sky, no wind. 1 ecotour 1 pleasure craft. Cut and chopped wood. Worked on finishing toilet install in assist house: drain line, vent pipe.

Jan 31:  Fog horn went off throughout the night. Cloudy in the morning, wind 10-15 knots NE. Moved firewood and measured station fuel and water levels for month end report. 3 ecotour boats, 1 sailboat. The sailboat came around the South side of the main island and passed through the small channel between the South Islands, it came very close to the sealions hauled out on the closer South Island.  I called Pedder Bay Marina, gave them the boat’s serial number and asked them to talk to the operator about the 100m marine mammal setback rule.

Census:

California Sea lions: 14

Northern Sea Lions: 15

Harbour Seals: 28

Elephant Seals: 7 female, 2 male

Cormorants: 22

Canada Geese: 10

Gulls: 6

Bald Eagle: 5

Harlequin Ducks: 10

Black Turnstone: 5

Black Oyster Catcher: 7

Surfbird: 2

Sparrow: 2

Killdeer: 2 (night only)

 

 

Jan 27-29

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Jan 27:  NE wind 5-15 knots switching to west in the afternoon, 20 to 30 knots. Courtney brought Max out in the morning to check on connections for camera 5 and the underwater camera.  I went off island in the afternoon to pick up Jeff and bring him out for a visit.

Jan 28: Cloudy in morning, cleared up in the afternoon.  Wind East 10 to 15 knots. Brought Jeff back to college in the morning. On the way we went by West rock to look for the elephant seal pup but couldn’t see or hear it.  Picked up deionized water, a UPS for the underwater camera, laser measurer for measuring crane height.  Cleared a large piece of red cedar out of the jetty bay and roped a long piece of hemlock.  Cut and chopped firewood in the sun.  Latter that afternoon I could hear and see the pup again.

Jan 29: mostly clear sky, wind NE 10 to 15 knots.  Two pleasure craft in reserve.  Worked on guest house toilet renovation: shortening platform, adding insulation, fitting, fastening and sealing poop chute. 

 

Jan 22-26: fog, eagles, orcas

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juvenile bald eagle on the tope of the crane boom

Jan 22: Misty, low visibility. Wind N 10-15 knots. 1 private pleasure craft in the reserve. Cut and chopped firewood.

Jan 23: Rain, wind N 10-15 knots.  1 ecotour vessel in the reserve.  Followed up with eco tour company I spoke to a couple days ago about one of their boats, distance to mammals and avoiding disturbance. Also called a different eco tour charter company, that I hadn’t seen here before, about distance from mammals and speed in the vicinity of the rocks.  Cut and chopped firewood. Could hear elephant seal pup again today.

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juvenile bald eagle on one of the anemometers on top of the tower

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Jan 24:  A blanket of fog rolled in from the North in the morning reducing visibility and triggering fog horn including in the middle of the night. Periods of rain too.  Two ecotour vessels in the reserve. Went off island around noon in the fog, navigated by GPS on boat with cell phone as back up.  Picked up supplies in Colwood including extra chains, files and lube for the station chainsaw.  Brought three guests back out with me in the afternoon to stay overnight.  Sea was very calm on the way over and the fog had lifted enough to see to Port Angeles. The fog came back before dusk but lifted overnight.

Jan 25:  Cloudy, light rain, light wind.  10-15 orcas passed through race passage going with the current, heading SW. I brought guests back to college around noon. On the way over we passed by elephant seal rock and were able to see the pup with its mother.  It was on the West side of the mother, out of sight from the main island or tower cam. Came back out before dark.

Jan 26: Foggy in the morning, fog horn went off during the night. Cloudy throughout day, wind light.  1 ecotour vessel.  Cut and chopped wood. Foggy again in the evening.

Jan 20-21

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Sir Wilfred Laurier alongside Rosedale Reef buoy, Port Angeles and Olympic mountains in background

Jan 20: Wind North around 15 knots, partly clear sky.  The Coast Guard vessel Sir Wilfred Laurier came by to do a buoy tender on the Rosedale reef marker.  1 pleasure craft and 1 ecotour.  I called the eco tour company to let them know they were too close to mammals and that there had been some disturbance.

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It looked like they took the buoy out and replaced it, I think the old buoy is on the deck of the Laurier, a zodiac with a few people stayed behind to finish work on the new one.

Jan 21: Wind N around 15 knots, periods of rain.  Younger male elephant seal has been on the main island most days lately. Towards dusk I heard the vocalizations of a elephant seal pup and mother again on West rock.  I think this is probably a second birth for this season. There have been 4 regular female elephant seals on the small island and there hasn’t been a sign of the other pup since the first week..  Worked on fire wood cutting and storage, cleaned sensors on YSI salinity instrument that had been giving faulty reading.

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Pam Birley took this picture from Camera 1 of the second pup born in 2015

 

Jan 15-19

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Jan 15: cloudy, N wind 10-15. DND blasting on Bentinck Island

Jan 16: wind light, clear sky. DND blasting on Bentinck Island. female elephant seal came into the boat ramp area but didn’t haul out for very long. Did some fire wood cutting. Went off island to pick up guest in the late afternoon.

Jan 17: cloudy with periods of rain, wind North 10-20 knots becoming West overnight. 1 dive boat, 2 eco tour.  Built a firewood cutting jig.

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dive boat getting tossed around in waves, Jan 17

Jan 18: wind 30-40 knots West overnight, gusting over 50 knots. The wind decreased in the afternoon. The younger male elephant seal came onto the main island in the afternoon. I was able to get a closer look at him, he has many small scars and marks on his back likely from Chunk bitting him. Sealion with orange data transmitter on its back off East side of island.

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California sealion with data transmitter with marking “5” visible

Jan 19: Partly clear, some rain.  Wind west, some gusts throughout day, light in the evening.  Went off island in the morning and returned in the afternoon.  Chunk and the younger male were both on the main island when I got back.

Census (Jan 17):

California Sea lions: 10

Northern Sea Lions: 2

Harbour Seals: 28

Elephant Seals: 3

Cormorants: 88

Canada Geese: 25

Gulls: 50

Bald Eagle: 1

Harlequin Ducks: 2

Black Turnstone: 5

Black Oyster Catcher: 32

 

 

Orcas, Jan 11-13

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On the morning of Jan 11 a pod of at around 20 orcas passed by in the morning on both sides of the reserve heading NE.  Mid morning they returned passing by on the East side of the reserve.  The whales were spread out and some were breaching as well as lying on their back slapping the surface of the water with their tails.

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the sealions on the south islands seemed apprehensive as the orcas swam nearby

 

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beyond south island, Rosedale Reef buoy and bulk carrier in background

 

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off the south islands

 

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on its back tail slapping the water

 

 

 

Persistent NE wind 10 -20 knots with mostly overcast sky for the past days.

Jan 11: 1 private vessel, 1 dive boat, 2 ecotour

Jan 12: one sea otter seen circling the island and a female elephant seal came on the main island briefly.  There have been very few female elephant seals on the main island so far this winter.

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Jan 13: 2 ecotour

Jan 14: 3 ecotour

I haven’t seen or heard the elephant seal pup in several days, dont know if it still alive. Have been working on wood cutting and did some more work on the composting toilet install, levelling the chamber so it drains, plumbing the chute and fastening the seat.

Jan 8-10, census

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Wind has been fairly steadily N-NE 10-15 knots for past days with overcast sky and intermittent light rain.

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The “Orca Spirit”, large and loud.

Jan 9: 2 ecotour vessels including the very large Orca Spirit which passed through the reserve twice, I dont usually see this vessel this time of year here.  It is quite a loud boat when it puts its engine(s) in gear.

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Jan 9,leg-banded cormorant, red KJ8

Census, Jan 9: 
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