Category Archives: Marine Vessels

Pressure Drop

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whale watching boat near sealions on south islands

Whale watching boat, sealions on south islands

Atmospheric pressure rose from around 1004 hPa yesterday to top out around 1020 hPa near Saturday night. Pressure has been falling today; winds up to 45 knots expected Tuesday.

Most of the sealions are out on the south islands now.  There are still a few on the main island, bellow the fog horn and the engine room.

Boats in the reserve: 2 dive boats, 1 whale watching boat, and 1 sailboat under motor.

Moved fire wood, cleared boat ramp and took down more electric fence.

 

Overcast with Calm Seas

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The barometer continued to drop slowly from 1023 to 1018 hPa.  The wind continued to blow between 8 and 18 knots from the northeast.  There was a difference in the weather today, compared to the clear sunny skies that have been the usual for the past week.  Low clouds hung over the Juan de Fuca Strait for most of the day.  There were occasional breaks of sun in the late morning and early afternoon.  The whitecaps this morning calmed right down in the afternoon, making the sea the calmest it’s been for the past few weeks.

There was one recreational boat seen this morning in the southern part of the reserve.

Pam Birley, from the UK, sent two photos of sea lions that she captured on Camera 1, located at the top of the lighthouse.  Pam’s photos show two branded sea lions that have never been spotted at Race Rocks, as far as I can tell.  See the photos below.  Thanks Pam!

The desalinator was run today to top up the fresh water cistern.  The solar panels aren’t soaking up as much energy, due to the clouds.  The generator was run longer today to help out the energy intensive desalinator.

The Sun is Shining

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There was a light breeze today, not getting higher than 5 knots. The barometer rose throughout the day. The clouds parted mid morning to produce a gloriously sunny rest of the day. The high this afternoon was 13.2 C.

Before Anne finished off her shift, she showed me how to perform a few more maintenance tasks: operate the boat winch, run the washing machine with rainwater, test water salinity and measure the fuel levels in the tanks.

Anne spotted a new tag on an elephant seal. The elephant seal that she mentioned in Wednesday’s log with the tag 7625, has a tag on his other flipper with the number 7688.

One recreational fishing boat passed by the jetty this morning. There were two whale watching boats noticed going through the reserve this afternoon.

There were at least two flashes of lightning seen in the west and loud claps of thunder at 19:00.

Elephant seals soaking up the sunshine.

Elephant seals soaking up the sunshine.

Tag 7688 on an elephant seal. I will get better photo evidence.

Tag 7688 on the flipper of an elephant seal. I will get better photo evidence.

The Pearson College sailboat Amatoana seen in the distance returning to Pedder Bay from a project week trip.

The Pearson College sailboat Amatoana seen in the distance returning to Pedder Bay from a project week trip.

A whale watching boat passes through the ecological reserve.

A whale watching boat passes through the ecological reserve.

Thanksgiving Edition (No Turkeys Here.)

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The day started with a hazy, overcast sky and an ocean swell rolling in from the open Pacific. Although visibility was 10 to 15 nautical miles, the marine air gave everything a soft, muted look and both Port Angeles and Victoria looked further away than they actually are. In the morning, winds were light to gentle breezes starting in the southwest and swinging over to southeast. In the afternoon it shifted to north-northeast and became noticeably colder and wetter.
The ocean swell became dramatic by mid-afternoon, exploding over north rock and making a rolling break into the jetty bay, surging right over the jetty. Although the barometer was higher today than it has been all week, it is now slowly dropping and Monday ‘s forecast is for more clouds, wind and rain. Hmmm sounds like October.

Whale watching activity was fairly brisk today with seven boats in the Ecological Reserve. Everyone was fairly well behaved. Seaking Adventures was certainly giving a lot of throttle in the Reserve, crossing from Great Race over to North Rock but that may have been because he was bucking the tide. There were also a couple of sports-fishing boats passing through the Reserve in a hurry, Foghorn Charters was one of those two.

Some operators may not know that the speed limit is only 7 knots within the Reserve.

Some operators may not know that the speed limit is only 7 knots within the Reserve.

A large Humpback Whale passed through the Reserve westbound, late afternoon, there were no whale watching boats around.

A lot more gulls arrived with the cool wet weather and are roosting just about everywhere on Great Race now. I am curious what the numbers will be for this week’s census on Wednesday.
CaGu California Gulls resting and preening on Great Race.[/caption]

Western Gulls are a little north of their usual range here and hard to distinguish from Glaucous-winged X Western Gull hybrids.

Western Gulls are a little north of their usual range here and hard to distinguish from Glaucous-winged X Western Gull hybrids.

With the influx of California Gulls it is going to be tricky distinguishing and counting all the large gulls. A gull that is easy to distinguish and also a favorite of mine, is the Heerman’s Gull.

Heerman's Gulls are our most exotic looking gulls.

Heerman’s Gulls are our most exotic looking gulls.

Another avian visitor spotted today was the small to medium sized sandpiper pictured below, I think it is a Western Sandpiper but would like confirmation.
WeSa
There were two young Elephant Seals on Great Race today and one of them was “tagged as a weiner in 2012” at Ano Nuevo Island in California “and hasn’t been seen since, so this is an important data point” according to Dr. Patrick Robinson, Año Nuevo Island Reserve Director.
Mian 6967
The second Elephant Seal was sleeping on the marine railway in the morning.
mian jetty

Race Rocks has become Canada’s main Elephant Seal colony. It is important as a fall haul-out location for sub-adults, as well as a winter birthing and mating site and spring moulting site.
Race Rocks is an ecological treasure located at a key location next to busy shipping lanes and popular sport-fishing grounds. I am thankful to those who had the vision to protect this amazing area and thankful to be able to experience it.
roro close to RR
roro & maersk

Last Blast of Summer

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Tomorrow is the equinox and it was a glorious last day of summer today on Race Rocks. In the morning, outflow northeasterly winds soon gave way to westerlies, which gained momentum creating whitecaps and active seas in the afternoon. Both yesterday and today there was also an ocean swell, indicating a storm out at sea. Some of the surges created large, standing waves in the tidal flows. The barometer continued slide today and a change is on the way with showers forecast to start by tomorrow evening.

There were only a few whale-watching boats today, four observed in total. The Ogden Point Dive Centre’s charter boat ran a dive right off the jetty today. A few recreational boats stopped to watch the sea lions and three were speeding in the reserve, as they came into and left the area. A Pedder Bay, Oak Bay Marine Group rental boat didn’t bother to slow at all and sped through the area packed with sea lions.

After picking up calipers at the floating lab, I was able to almost complete meristic data collection for the Glaucous-wing Gull mortality study. Measurements were made of over 50 gulls in order to determine the age range and location at death. It has been so dry for so long, that the birds were basically mummified, not nearly as gross as standing up-wind of the living sea lions.

Several opportunistic brand photos were taken today and census photos were taken to validate against the more traditional census technique.

Sometimes the brands are easier to read with binoculars than in the photo. This one is 1032.

Sometimes the brands are easier to read with binoculars than in the photo. This one is 1032.

It seems that more Steller’s Sea Lions, Thayer’s Gulls and Double-crested Cormorants are arriving daily As you can see from this photograph of one the main California Sea Lion sleeping areas they are packed in tightly and not strictly segregated by species.

Sea lions pack into sleeping areas. This big Steller's Sea Lion caused a ruckus by walking over the Californians.

Sea lions pack into sleeping areas. This big Steller’s Sea Lion caused a ruckus by walking over the Californians.

The more mundane tasks of washing the solar panels, building up the compost, washing windows and mending the fences were done in the morning and it was actually hot, hmmm, just like summer. The seawater data was collected in the afternoon as the sunshine powered the solar panels which in turn powered the desalinator to make fresh water out of salt water. As the sun set south of Cape Flattery now, the classic Lister generator topped up the batteries for the overnight period.

The Race Pushes out Illegal Fishers

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The day started and ended beautiful and clear, with thick fog coming and going, in between. The westerly winds were unabated and are still gusting over 25 knots as I write this at 21:30. The barometer ended up a little lower than it started with a few ups and downs. It looks like more of the same for tomorrow.

There were only three tour boats noted today and they were following Bigg’s Killer Whales to the west. With lots of Southern Resident Killer Whales, in the Gulf Islands that is probably where the main fleet was working today.

There was another Pedder Bay Marina rental boat with three male Asians fishing illegally in the Rockfish Conservation area today but by the time I tried to hail them on the radio and find the number for DFO Observe, Record, Report, the tidal flow had booted them out of the reserve. They tried again but were repulsed again by the mighty Race. Go tide. I also watched a small, skillfully sailed vessel virtually fly through with full sails and the westerly astern plus a big flood tide whipping him along.

Moving the 100 lb. propane tanks yesterday bugged my knee so I had a slow day today and learned how to use the camera (a little). Here is a photo requested by the Eco-Reserve Warden, Garry Fletcher. He asked for a photo with sea lions in the foreground and a ship in the background. Voila. (Okay, next time the horizon will be level.)

Seals and Sea Lions in the foreground, ship in the background.

Seals and Sea LIons in the foreground, ship in the background.

There are still a few technical details to figure out on how to make an electric fence to keep the big sea lions from leaning their way into the basement of the Science House. I am trying to train them to stay off the house by tapping two rocks together but they are not easily intimidated and some of them are downright ornery.

Standing Waves

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The fine weather continued today with light outflow winds and clear skies. The barometric pressure rose to almost 1020 hPa by mid–morning and then started to slowly slide back down. This pattern is forecast again for tomorrow.

I counted 32 tour boats in the reserve today and may have a missed a few as I was busy. I talked to the Garry Fletcher, Ecological Reserve Guardian and learned a great deal.
There were Biggs Killer Whales out to the west again so many of the boats broke up their trips coming or going with a stop at Race Rocks. A few recreational fishers went through at low speed but no poaching today. The only transgression noted was a Grady White speeding. The man with the white hat and red rubber boat was back but stayed just outside the line.

Just before sunset, an enormous aircraft carrier headed past and on out to sea. Ahead of it was a container ship and behind a schooner. The volume of goods and people coming and going in Juan de Fuca Strait is really amazing and it all passes by Race Rocks. Port Metro Vancouver alone trades $184 billion in goods and then there is Seattle, Victoria, Bellingham, Spokane etc..

Corrections to yesterday’s log: 1. There are still at least two Pigeon Guillemots feeding young. 2. I forgot to count in the four Canada Geese that are here daily. 3. I got a good look at the Black Turnstones from the tower today and counted 23.

I did some research today, starting with reading a few papers on Steller’s and California Sea Lions and looking at a paper on Glaucous-winged Gull chick mortality. I talked to Race Rocks Ecological Reserve Guardian, Garry Fletcher, learning a great deal. I started a Glaucous-winged gull survey today and found 30 so far. It is important to get this done before it starts getting too damp.

The practical side of the day involved more cleaning and starting a perimeter fence for the science house. The doors of the house are no match for a 2200 pound sea lion.
I watched the creation of large, breaking standing waves today, right in front of the house/jetty. The tide was flooding in and there was no wind so there must have been some ebb pushing out against it. Pretty spectacular for a few minutes then it calmed down.

Fog and sunshine

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There was a tiny bit of rain with fog early today and then it switched back to near gale westerlies with heavy fog interspersed with sunshine. It is a beautiful starlight evening and the westerly continues to drop. The barometer held fairly steady today with a slight increase this evening. Environment Canada says that a strong westerly wind warning stays in effect for Sunday with a chance of showers.

There were ten whale watching boats in the Reserve today and they were all well behaved. A dive charter boat with eleven divers aboard came through the reserve but I am not sure where they dove.

Two male kayakers , one in a green kayak and the other in a reddish-brown kayak came through the passage on the south side of Great Race in the early afternoon and caused a sea lion stampede. They then proceeded to fish right in the closed conservation area. There were also two recreational boats fishing in the marine protected area.

A few more sea lion brands were observed today including one seven year-old female Steller’s Sea Lion that was branded as a pup in 2007 at Rogue Reef , near Gold Beach in southern Oregon.

This was my first day to not see Elephant Seals and California Sea Lions have taken over the jetty and marine railway. Some of them are a bit scary looking and do not want to move so that I can do seawater data collection.

Three River Otters were out and about in daylight today. Usually you don’t see them and just guess that they are around in the evening as all the gulls lift off and call. There were two young, very healthy-looking animals with an adult. Maybe that it why there are so many Glaucous-winged gull chick mortalities here? (Just a guess.)

Alex was quite excited to see some of the old lighthouse artifacts including parts of an old Fairbanks-Morris engine. He also pointed out where the old granite light-keepers house had been removed from its attachment to the base of the light tower.

The tasks today were the basic, regular tasks of  cleaning the solar panels, running the generator, launching and bringing the boat back up in order to drop off Alex, repairing the jetty fence (twice) and taking the salinity measurement. Tomorrow is month-end report time.

 

 

Baleen at sunset

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Fog in the morning that burned off around 1030h. Winds reached 35 knots mid-afternoon. Light winds forecasted for tomorrow morning and increasing in the afternoon. Barometric pressure still dropping.

2 whale watching boats

1 recreational fishing boat

Last of the gull chicks are learning to fly. Another elephant seal arrived on the boat ramp today, bringing the number to four. Spotted a baleen whale off the SW side of the reserve at 2030h this evening as the sun set.

Courtney came out in Second Nature with a tour group this morning of alumni and then made another trip to do maintenance on the desalinator (which is now in working order). Cistern was very low so Anne and I ran the pump for most of the day. Continued with Anne’s training.