Category Archives: Marine Vessels

Jan 5-7

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Jan 5: Cloudy, rain, 10 knots E.  Had a lot of rain water in a short time, there was a lot of standing water.  Some water leaked under the doors into the engine building, down the roof vent in the battery room and the drain on the roof got plugged up.  I worked on the roof drainage and mopped up in the engine building.  Finalized month end report. Foghorn was going off throughout the night.  One sports fishing/recreation vessel.

Chunk was on the island in the morning but left mid day.

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Jan 6, in the centre a ring necked sealion is visible, hauled out on South Islands.

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Jan 2-4

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Jan 2: Cloudy, light rain. 1 recreational rental going too fast inside the reserve. I contacted Pedder Bay Marina and they talked to the boat renters.  I went off island in afternoon to get supplies.

Jan 3: Cloudy, light rain, wind 10-15 knots NE. 3 recreational boats, 4 eco tour boats. 1 dive boat that got quite close to sea lions on the rocks.  I spoke with the dive boat operator who was apologetic and understanding.  Chopped wood. Did a calibration check of the “YSI” digital sea temperature and salinity meter as requested by DFO. Sent off Dec seawater data to DFO.

checking calibration of YSI unit against analog hydrometer and thermometer

checking calibration of YSI unit against analog hydrometer and thermometer

Jan 4: Cloudy, rain throughout the day. Wind 10-15 knots NE. Chunk had been back on the main island but departed this morning.  One sports fishing boat.

new year, census

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Dec 31: Clear sky, freezing temperature. Wind N 9 knots. 1 recreational and 3 ecotour vessels in the reserve.  Worked on month end report, chopped wood.

Jan 1: Clear sky, 3 ecotour vessels.  Contacted one company about a boat of theirs in the reserve that was traveling too fast and got too close to sea lions.   Worked on writing month end report, cutting fire wood.

Census: Continue reading →

good weather, 1 speeding boat

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Another beautiful day of clear sky and light wind.  The barometer hit a high of over 1040 hPa today.

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sunrise, mpountain peaks in the US

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rosedale reef buoy, olympic mountains in background

 

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birds feeding in the straight, olympics in background

Vessels observed in the reserve today: 1 ecotour, 1 dive boat, 1 pleasure craft (rental from Pedder Bay Marina).  The rental boat was traveling over the designated speed limit of 7 knots within 400 meters of the rocks.  I photographed the vessel with 4 people onboard, got the hull numbers and reported it to Pedder Bay Marina who said they would speak with the operators-who were likely unaware of the regulations.

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Chopped wood and did some more cleanup of debris in the jetty area.

 

dec 25- 29

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A few days to catch up on…

Dec 25th: good weather,  went off island early and got to spend the day with family. On the way back there was a very cooperative juvenile bald eagle on top of the crane and I was able to photograph it from the jetty.  In the vertical photo the eagle’s nictitating membrane is half way across it’s eye.

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I got back to a nice sun set and a very calm sea.

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Dec 26th: NE 10-15 knot wind. 1 sports fishing boat, 1 eco-tour vessel.  Went off island in afternoon to bring guests out for the night.  Had a wet ride and in the evening a lot of driftwood got blown in to the jetty.

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rainbow in the morning, to the East.

Dec 27th: Calm in the morning but picked up to 30-25 knots West around noon.  Rain throughout the day, often sideways. Went off island in the morning to bring back guests, wet ride again.  2 eco tour vessels. Cleaned up boat ramp/jetty and cut wood.

Dec 28th: Wind N 10 knots, partly sunny.  Went off island in the morning to pick up Garry and Val for the annual bird count (see previous post). Notably, Val and Garry discovered a (regionally) rare Boreal Owl during their count.  Earlier in the morning 3 juvenile bald eagles wrestled over a small fish and displayed some impressive acrobatics. In the evening the internet and phone connection went offline.

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Dec 29th: Clear sky, 20 -25 knots N wind in the morning that picked up to 35-40 knots before noon. Strong winds persisted most of the day dropping to around 25 knots in the afternoon. Winds picked up again in the evening gusting to 35 knots.  I went up the tower in the morning to check on the internet/phone disconnection.  Was able to reboot and get it working again.  I had a good view of the elephant seals on the W rock today, there are two males, Chunk and a younger male as well as one fairly large looking female, possibly Bertha.  Temperature is going down, will be keeping an eye on water lines  More driftwood accumulating with the NE wind. Cleared boat ramp and cut fire wood.

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Teals return again

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Rain throughout the day, wind 15-20 knots most of the day, started North then shifted to West. West wind picked up in the evening gusting over 35 knots.  Barometer reached a high of over 1025 hPa on Monday and has been falling today towards 1010 hPa.

One eco tour vessel in the reserve

Chunk has been on the main island all day until the evening.  There is a second large male elephant seal on west rock, visible on camera 1, that I haven’t seen on the main island yet.

With the rain came the Green Winged Teals (3) again to the muddy flats on the NE side of the island.

Cleared some logs out of the jetty bay with the pike pole and chopped fire wood.

NE subsiding

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Wind was from the North in the morning, 10 knots and shifted to 20 knots West in the evening. Pressure falling to a low of around 1000 hPa in the evening then rising.

One ecotour in the reserve today.

Tides have been getting lower earlier in the day so I am able to do more wood cutting and clearing in the afternoons.

census, banded cormorant

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Atmospheric pressure rose to a high of over 1020 h Pa today.  The NE wind has started to return, 10 to 20 knots most of the day.

One whale watching boat and one dive boat in reserve today.

Thursday the weather/visibility was pretty bad for a census and on Friday I went off island so I did a makeup census on Saturday.

Notably: there was a high count of cormorants, 520, compared to last week as well a yellow banded individual (KCO)- details documented on next post. There was a high number of bald eagles (20) in reserve, and a lone kingfisher and pelican again in the reserve.  While there have been over 40 black oyster catchers here this week there were none observed today.

Harvested driftwood including a good size fir log I tied up at high tide and bucked and chopped once the tide had fallen.  Worked on toilet install and hammer drilling for plaque install.

Census:

California Sea lions: 38
Northern Sea Lions: 222
Harbour Seals: 5
Elephant Seals: 6
Cormorants: 520
Canada Geese: 2
Gulls: 680  mostly Thayer’s)
Bald Eagle: 20
Harlequin Ducks: 5
Black Turnstone: 2
Dunlin: 3
Sparrow: 0
Kingfisher: 1

Pelican:1

Pelican, 50knot gusts

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The barometer hit a low of below 985 hPa in the afternoon.  Winds had been 10 to 20 knots N most of the day but picked up in the evening and switched to west late in the night, gusting over 50knots.

I spotted one pelican offshore in the reserve.  Chunk was on the main island overnight but left around noon.

A submarine passed by close to the reserve.

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submarine passing on the East side of the reserve, heading North.

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pelican in the reserve, N of Great Race

A lot of wood debris got washed up on the boat ramp throughout the day and this evening. Collected lots of driftwood for burning.  Working on compost toilet installation.