Category Archives: Facility work

Clean Panels, High Pressure and Sprouts

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The solar tilt kit that we installed last week seems to be doing a good job keeping the panels clean, one less block to wash!  In the background I think you can make out the lump that is Misery on Middle Rock.

Atmospheric pressure today was the highest it has been in the past month. This has corresponded with nice mild weather out here the past few days. Pressure peaked around midnight and has been falling throughout the day. Winds have been picking up since the afternoon, gusting over 25 knots West.

 

I have mainly been organizing and cleaning in the house today.  For lunch, I harvested some of my first crop of island grown alfalfa sprouts.

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Parts for Rainwater Harvesting

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Went off island around noon today to go to the college and the hardware store. Should now have all the parts for connecting a rainwater collection system off the south side of the roof on the main house.  By using rainwater to feed into the cistern we can reduce the amount of salt water we need to pump from the ocean for desalinating.  It should also increase the efficiency of the water filtration system while reducing the frequency of filter changes.

The weather was really nice out here today, very clear and quite warm.  The female elephant seal has remained on the boat ramp. She gave me a couple barks today which was nice because she hadn’t seemed very lively before.   Misery is still on Middle Rock with sea lion accompaniment.

This evening I am standing by on the VHF radio while Erik is doing a night dive with students off of Fossil Point.

Update and Female Elephant Seal

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Rainbow taken by Jake last week

Sorry for the log neglect the past few days. I have been off island a bit and adjusting to a new computer, here is a quick update:

Saturday we were again unable to get off the island due to the weather but made it off Sunday to drop off Jake and stock up on food.  Jake was out for 6 days (had planned on 3) and was good company and a great help while he was here with the solar tilt installation, lots of clean up and putting his carpentry skills to work building shelving and storage space. Thanks Jake!

Yesterday the weather was good (t-shirt) and sea was calm so I made a quick trip off island again to get plumbing parts for a rainwater capture system.

On my return there was a female elephant seal hauled out near the jetty. She seems quite small and not afraid of me at all.  She was quite stubborn about clearing the rail to let the boat back into the boat house.

 

Windy

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A 45 knot West wind hit us last night and brought in large swells from the Pacific all day today.  They were rolling into and over the West side of the jetty all morning and into the afternoon.  Looking out towards the Pacific you could see large sets of waves coming in at intervals of 2 – 5 min. We were unable to launch the whaler in the morning and the group of students coming from the college had to be canceled.

The tilted solar panels seem to be holding up fine in the winds so far.  I have finished topping up the other half the battery bank.  Jake has helped me exchange the old fridge in the main house for a new more efficient one, install some shelving and cabinetry in basement of both houses and continue to clean and organize.

Yesterday at sunset Misery made his way into the water by the jetty.  He was back up behind the boat house this morning.  With the rough seas most sea lions have been in the water today though a few were clinging to helicopter rock this morning and about 10 were hauled out on east rock this afternoon.  3 eco-tour boats came into the reserve this afternoon on the south side.

Another windy one tonight, currently 30 knots east.

 

 

Cleaning and Battery Maintenance

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Yesterday Jake and I worked in the morning cleaning out the basement of the Science Center to make it more functional when students and other guests stay there.  In the afternoon Jake did some organizing in the Eco Guardians basement and in the boat house and I worked on topping up the liquid in the battery bank.  It took me about 3 hours to get through half of the 96 batteries at which point it was dark and time to run the generator. I will try to finish the other half today or this weekend.  It looks like with the last rain water has been leaking through a roof vent on the NE side of battery room, there was water pooled on the floor which I mopped up, will keep an eye on this.

Misery was on the island all day yesterday near heli pad. Was vocal last night and is now over near the science center.

I had planned on leaving the island today to take Jake back to Pearson College and to run some errands in town but there is a gale warning, NE swell into the jetty, and barometer is falling so we will stay put until tomorrow.

Loaded, Blasted, Tilted, Misery

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Yesterday morning Erik came out on Second Nature with Julien,
Garry, and Jake.  He took off a pretty full load of wood scraps from a reno of the crane deck, garbage,  4 monitors, propane tanks, old composting toilet, etc.  DND blasting occurred at 11:11, 11:14, 11:35 (twice), and 11:36.   This morning around 4 am I heard a male elephant seal, presumably Misery, who has been back on the island all day.  I worked with Jake on installing the first solar PV tilt kit on the roof of the engine room.  The kit is apparently rated to withstand 125 mph winds.  It should provide greater solar exposure and accumulate less gull excrement thereby requiring less desalinated water to clean.

Visit to island- eco-reserve warden update

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Julien and I went out to the island to go over the various mechanical and recording systems on the island with Alex for the purpose of possibly  developing  an improved electronic data-logging system.
Many large blasts were noted throughout the morning  from the DND ordinance disposal pit on Rocky Point. Gulls on South west corner were dispersed on one of the blasts.
Material to be sent back for recycling was loaded by winch on the boat and Erik and Jake brought us back to the college. They picked us up in the afternoon bringing back the station whaler having undergone repairs over the last few weeks. Erik drove Julien and I in a rather rough return ride in the rigid hull inflatable which has been the substitute boat at the island.
Jake stayed out with Alex to work on the refitting of angle brackets on the solar panels on the roof of the energy building over the next few days. These are intended to increase efficiency by giving more of an angled tilt to the south.
Camera 1 panorama picture was redone to give better ability to click on the panorama image for control of camera.
I noted that a dozen or more of the introduced (non-migratory) strain of Canada geese still persist on the island. Their grazing in the area of the first nations burial cairns remains to be a problem as soil erosion is obvious. I have suggested that we might put up several netted enclosures to document the impact of their grazing.
5 dead immature glaucous -winged gulls were noted on various parts of the island, A full count is pending. This is probably from normal; fall mortality of new birds. On top of the south rocks today, 100 cormorants, probably double  crested lined the ridge.

Garry Fletcher- ecological reserve warden

orcas sighted again

Aside

The elephant seal was pretty vocal last night but there was no sign or sound of him today.  Yesterday at sunset I think I saw the horned owl on top of the flag pole. This morning several Bald Eagles were rounding up the gulls on great race.  Before noon a vessel from Pinnacle Divers came into the reserve.  They did a dive near the jetty and a second one off of the E rocks.  While unloading divers near the jetty the boat accidentally contacted the kelp bed off the NW side of the jetty.  I contacted the company by phone and left a message.  Around 14:00 hrs a Prince of Whales vessel entered the reserve.  There were around 30 Northern Sealions hauled out on N Rock.  On the vessels approach to N Rock some sealions exited into the water.  I contacted the company by phone and spoke with a staff member.   Around 14:30 hrs 3 or more Orcas approached the reserve from the SW passing W of the reserve heading N.  Have been gathering scrap wood, propane tanks, garbage etc. today for offloading tomorrow with a boat trip from the college planned for the morning.