Category Archives: Facility work

Breakfast

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There was a freshly killed seagull on the NE side of the island this morning. Soon after I had inspected it, a juvenile Bald Eagle came in to continue to deplume and consume it. The Eagle eventually flew off with the carcass to finish it off on Middle Rocks.

Misery was back on Great Race this morning, he has been behind the boat house all day.

For most of the afternoon there two dive boats near Middle Rocks.

I worked on a de-clogging a stubborn sink drain in the bathroom of the main house this morning.

A North wind peaked around 20 knots this morning and dropped to less than 5 knots for most of the rest of the day.

Bald Eagles

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Bald Eagles on Middle Rocks, image captured on tower webcam.

There were several bald eagles on the rocks and chasing seagulls this morning.  At around noon I counted a total of 8 bald eagles: 4 on Middle Rocks, 2 on North Rock and 2 on South Rocks.

Misery and female elephant seals have remained on Middle Rocks yesterday and today.

It has been a pretty calm, quiet, grey day. I worked on connecting a second roof downspout to the rainwater tank.  The whole South side of the roof is now hooked in, just need a good rain to test it out.

water line

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Misery has been on middle rocks along with 3 females today. The image above was captured from the remote webcam in the tower this morning.  There have been around 40 Pigeon Guillemots with winter plumage around the jetty the past couple days. The cormorants were mainly on Middle Rock today.

I laid the 1.5″ line in the trench from the blue tank to the cistern access and cemented the 3″ down pipe and clean-out to the blue tank inlet.  The trench follows a previously impacted route along-side the edge of the cistern.

At  around 13:15 hrs a Prince Of Whales whale watching boat was in the reserve.

Misery and Plumbing

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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

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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

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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

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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.