Category Archives: Facility work

Misery and Plumbing

Posted on by

Misery next to diesel line box, in the background North profile of both blocks of tilted solar panels on roof of energy building.

Misery was next to the diesel line box mid morning. This box is 6′ wide and just over 4′ tall so the previous estimate of him being about 12′ long seems pretty accurate.  He moved over towards the fresh water tank in the afternoon and was lying behind a rock wall near where I was working on the rainwater plumbing. Around sunset he headed back to the pathway and down the boat ramp.  He crashed through a pile of logs that had been left by the receding tide.  Once in the water he spent about 20 mins blowing into the water and rolling around.  It would be interesting to hear him underwater.  He left the jetty and resurfaced on the West side of the island.  A few minutes later he was accompanied by the small female elephant seal, whom he proceeded to chase and bite until she hauled out on some rocks out of his reach.

There were about 10 black oyster catchers off the SW side of engine room and 6 Harlequin ducks in the water off the SE side, lots of cormorants on South rocks and on West side.

Worked on rainwater plumbing this afternoon.  Have got the tank inlet and down pipe clean-out hooked up.

Cormorants, Elephant Seals, Fuel Line, Plumbing Parts

Posted on by

This morning I counted over 200 cormorants on the South Rocks and saw a pair of Harlequin ducks by the jetty.

The female elephant 6360 went  back in the water before noon.  Misery was near the centre of the island at sunset.

I went off island to campus around noon.   I brought some scientific instruments back to campus and went into Langford to pick up plumbing parts and other supplies.  Erik worked on the whaler’s fuel line over the afternoon and got it fixed up.  I got back out to the island as the sun was setting on the lowest tide I have ever landed on out here, the boat ramp was longer than usual.

 

 

Pearson College Students at Race Rocks

Posted on by

Jake and Aaron installing tilt kit on a second block of solar PV panels

On Friday afternoon Chris brought a group of 5 students and Jake to stay on the island for the weekend.   The group was a big help with several projects including installing a second solar PV tilt kit on the roof of the Engine Room, helping build a rainwater capture system, relocating construction materials, and transferring diesel for heating.

On Saturday Danie made marine life observations on the South side of the island, she counted 5 sealions, 40 Cormorants, 10 gulls, and 7 Black Oyster catchers. Also on Saturday Julie did a Marine Sciences research experiment on the relationship between ocean current strength and depth.  While conducting the experiment we had some trouble with the outboard engine fuel line on the Whaler so Chris came out in Second Nature to get us going again.

Today around 11:00 hrs Chris came back out to the island to take them all back to campus. It has been another great weekend with students at Race Rocks, big thanks for all the help and good times.  Also. thanks to Jake for taking the lead on the tilt kit and to Chris for providing support and transportation on the weekend.

Chris taking students back to campus in Second Nature

Clean Panels, High Pressure and Sprouts

Posted on by

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.

( :

Parts for Rainwater Harvesting

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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