Fall definitely here to stay

Posted on Wednesday,September 7, 2016 by Christine Ouradou

Weather

For this beginning of the month we have mainly calm days but the temperature of water and air dropped and the sky is cloudy grey with rain almost everyday.We already can see the effect of this soft water on main Rock: flowers,greener moss and rocks not so white.Fall is here to stay. Foggy night on the 6th: fog horn honked + sea lions shouting= Noisy place !

Ecological

With this cooler days we saw some species coming back:Around 20 pelagic cormorants on Turbine Rock and 2 on main.and 2 Elephant Seals has spent some time on Main (one older female and one juvenile). It is a challenge and a lot of fun at the same time to do the water sampling : so many sea lions on the jetty!. We saw a river otter 2 days ago and 11 geese yesterday

Maintenance

A new sea water pump has been installed in the derrick house by Kyle and Guy with 4 new hoses and a 5th one is needed to reach the guesthouse.Kyle brought back the empty gazoil barrels and brought them back full.The desalinator has been working the 2 last days and the tank is now full.. End of the month report done and sent .

DND

A few blasts yesterday and Today and a few ones pretty strong.

Other

1 plane yesterday and Today above and one helicopter(coast guards)

Hot and calm days on the rock

Posted on Saturday,August 20, 2016 by Christine Ouradou

Weather

Mainly the scenario is this one :high temperatures of air and water( around 13 Celsius) and calm sea. That means too, gorgeous sunset and sunrise .

Ecological

2 more dead chicken bodies found. Gulls and Sea lions are very active and the gulls are not anymore aggressive towards us.

DND activity

We were surprised on Wednesday night by a huge deflagration at 9:54 PM. The animals on the rocks around reacted strongly like us actually. The house shaked and we kept ready for the next blast for at least an hour. The following day we got this info:it was a military building demolition exercise on Bentinck island and we received from the college this other explanation:“ Numerous studies have been conducted on the potential environmental effects:Blast noise in the marine environment land demolition is almost indetectable by acoustic equipment;above that of other underwater backgrounds sounds such as waves & marine life”.We got more blast the following days but never so loud and in day time .

Eco guardian’s activity

We have been on shore from Wednesday to Friday for some training at the college: this training has been very useful at a beginning of a new school year (next week the students will be there). We were especially concerned by all the security review we got:1rst aid,fire risks ,emergency and incidents protocol etc…

Beautiful Summer days but a little bit chillier at least on the Rocks!

Posted on Wednesday,August 3, 2016 by Christine Ouradou

Weather

On Monday at 5:00 AM 22 knots west wind getting to 25 in the afternoon and cloudy to clear later. On Tuesday same kind of weather , wind closed to 28 knots in the afternoon and very clear and hot even if the wind on the sea is chilli. Water and air same temperature of 12 degrees celsius,barometric pressure stable:101.7KPA.

Ecological

The little birds are learning how to fly but it’s just the beginning. One elephant seal ,a young one, came back on Tuesday . The sea lions are getting closer and closer on the south side of the Rock and already have to keep the window closed because of their noisy shoutings.Kelp beds are all around and we have to be cautious with the boat.I found an egg broken still liquid and a bird smoldering and 2 very young chickens.. so the season is not over yet.

Maintenance

Guy for the last time tried to make the seawater pump working but niet it’s really dead so we brought it back to the college and we will get another new one pretty soon.He chopped more wood and will got all the wood in piles closed to the houses instead of a big one at the jetty. We had after that to hoover the water sample house because with the wind :all the wood chips went inside ! the desalinator was on part of the days. Solar panels are efficient ( Generator once a week on)

Other

Some DND activity.

We went to the college to bring back the pump and some recycling and garbage bags and at the same time we went for an interview with Aziz for the video in a quiet environment ;too much noise all the times here. Also we had a short meeting with Kyle to double check for the next week organisation. A lot happening around the Sea front : year 31 and 32 alumni are coming back for 4 days.

Steady watching boats activity.

Census Day and fishing activity in the ecological reserve

Posted on Wednesday,July 20, 2016 by Christine Ouradou

Weather

Calm Summer day

Ecological

Where are gone so many gulls and why?

Boats

6 kayakers between Vancouver Island shore and Race Rocks (half distance )with a rescue Zodiac in case.4 First nations big canoes 2 under sails and one with oars between East Sooke and the States with some rescue power boats. 1st watching vessels at 9:30AM .In the afternoon around 3:30PM ,3 people in a small power boat were fishing in the ecological reserve.From south rocks to the middle passage ,with the engine in neutral position,they went through the passage 2 times .The guy was fishing with a short rod and we saw one of the women with a mackerel size fish in her hand . It took them 15min to go through . Because of the aggressive gulls all around we couldn’t go but we took all the references and phoned to Fisheries and Oceans Canada.They left in the Victoria direction and pretty soon to Pedder Bay at full speed.

DND activity

Extensive activity for the DND Today; 14 blasts and the 4 last one were huge .

Census

Elephant seals :2

Gulls: 390 mainly adults glaucous winged gulls, a few Heermann’s gulls only

Harbour seal:s 70 + many swimming newborns ones

Harlequin ducks:1

Oystercatchers:5

Pigeons-guillemot:35

Cormorants :0

River otters:0

Gull chicks:50 to 60 from the front window.

geese :0

Seashore birds : 4

Orcas: around 10 (seen close enough)

Important visitors from Pearson College

Posted on Wednesday,July 13, 2016 by Christine Ouradou

Weather

Calm first days of the week .On Tuesday only the wind increased a little in the late evening to reach 30 knots Now the sunset is around 9:00.

Ecological

Good fishing days for the gulls colony. We definitively have a big number of Heermann gulls .The 2 bigger elephant seals are spending more time in waters maybe because the ride is easier ,now that they have lost weight. CSC_0187

Visitors

We had the pleasure to welcome the new Vice – President of Operations and Administration of Pearson College Tyrone Pyle. He came for a visit on the Rocks and the Director of Operations Chris Blondeau did the tour with him.

DND activity

For the 1st time we had 10 blasts in the morning ,last one around 1:30 . One of the blast was huge .

Boats

Some beautiful sailboats from the States these days . 1 diving boat from Ogden Point with 3 Divers spent around 45mn and were like usual very closed to main on East side. CSC_0030

Oystercatchers chicks …seen!

Posted on Wednesday,June 29, 2016 by Christine Ouradou

Weather

Windy day :Already 28 knots at 5:00 .This situation stayed stable to Noon but we were expecting a gale warning for the afternoon and yes we got it . the wind increased steadily to 7:30 PM where it get 50 knots . What a beautiful scenery around the rocks .Actually with the tide rising we almost couldn’t see the adjacent ones.It kept windy part of the night but at 1:00 when I awake ,it was just silence around .What a pleasant sound!

Ecological

For the first time we found our two adults male elephant seals closed to the lighthouse in the raging wind. In the morning we finally managed to see 5 babies oystercatchers . The nest closed to the boat shed has 1 and the 2 other nests closed to the crank and closed to the horn have 2 chicks . 4 elephant seals on Main (not always the same ). The 2 geese came back.

Visitors

Chris and Kyle came around 10:30 with 4 people from New York.They left just in time before the gale.

Other

DND activity :3 strong blasts and a Corvette (Number:338) was at Rocky Point for admonitions (I guess ). I know that some international military exercises in the Pacific are coming soon or have just finished . Anyway the ship was helped by 2 tugboats and slowly she sailed back to Esquilmalt.

Boats

3 beautiful identical sailboats running closed to the Vancouver Island coast. Late in the day a RCMP zodiac went around the Rocks. 2 big fishing boats, always the same one ,going fishing despite the strong wind.No watching vessels.

Blue mountains

Posted on Wednesday,June 22, 2016 by Christine Ouradou

Weather

At 5:00 light west wind 15/20 knots;Sky:cloudy;Visibility:10 miles; Sea:calm.Some rain in the morning

Ecological

The famous couple got their babies.They were not easy to observe and the parents became alarmed as soon as we got closed. so impossible to get pictures . About birds : the colony of pigeons -guillemot is getting bigger and we have only 3 or 4 elephant seals on main.

Visitors

We got a group of people from Metchosin. They were so happy to be here that for us it has been such a pleasure to share our small world. On person thought not be able to come in his lifetime and the other one has been a fisherman and used to see the rocks from the sea and never came on the rock . Very touching ..We went to the top of the lighthouse ;so much fun for them and for us !

Maintenance

The desalinator was on for 9 hours and the generator for 4 hours.Guy changed the propane tank of the main house and we will need to fill up the finished one .Ready to go on the jetty.

Other

2DND blasts – strong ,always surprising.

In the evening around 6H00, looking by the window I realized that the mountain and the Vancouver Island coast was all blue. Beautiful but unusual and sure enough ,going outside it was smoke smelling…That remembered me the 5Th July ,2015 this awful yellow sky! I checked right away on CBC and it was some 4 apartment buildings in Saanicht burning. A friend of us living closed never got a clue of it.

Coming back and setting down day

Posted on Wednesday,June 1, 2016 by Christine Ouradou

Weather
Sky: Overcast to rainy;Wind: 10-15 knots West wind;Sea:Calm

Ecological
14 elephant seals and among them 2 big ones :On Great Race my friend Chunk and a new one for me , named Chuckles. The grassy field looks like a schoolyard with the playing young ones.
Surprise to see Gulls already so busy building nest and some on it. Pretty soon we saw our first egg …10 Californian Sea lions on Great Race Rocks
Seawater sampling around noon today: Salinity :32:01 and temperature :10:9 C
Maintenance
Checking around for priorities: A small leak from the gazoil filter needs attention.
Whaler battery put in charge.
Whaler diesel fuel tank filled up.
Different controls done
Boats
One whale watcher boat at 20:30 PM This is unusual ,looks like they were waiting for the lighthouse to light up..it was not for a nice sunset!
Other
We admire the beautiful bricks under the wheels .Thanks to Riley!
Intense activity at the DND: 4 strong blasts between 10:45 and 2:00 PM and a very surprising one at 10:30 PM This one made the house shake ! WE were kept in alert before by a flashing blue light ( a DND zodiac protecting the area).
We looked for a sailboat photo required by the boat owner and taken on Race Rocks . We found it and sent it to the college.

It’s good to be on Race Rocks ! Happy Eco – Guardians!

: Christine

: Guy

: California Sea Lion

: Chunk the Elephant seal bottom side.

Chunk vs. Chuckles

Posted on Tuesday,May 31, 2016 by Riley Strother

Weather

Visibility: 15+ miles
Wind: 0 knots most of the day, until the evening when it hit 40 knots West
Sky: clear and sunny
Water: calm

Ecological

14 elephant seals on Great Race; 2 on Middle Rock.
Chunk and Chuckles engaged in friendly water battles for over an hour.
The tagged female elephant seal from California is still around.
The single odd looking seagull egg from May 29th has turned into 2 normal gull eggs.

: Chunk and Chukles

: Ms. California

: Sea Lions

: Battle!

: Ms. California

: Ms. California tag

: Before

: After

Maintenance

Topped up the tidy tank with diesel.
Cleaned the solar panels.
General cleaning up.
Wrote the month end report.
Sent off the May seawater data.

Boats

At 12:30 there were 5 large eco-tours in the reserve at once. This might be too many at once?
What is quite probably the largest eco-tour I have ever seen came through Middle Channel today.

Other

At least 7 DND blasts today.
They came at 9:46, 9:47, 9:48, 10:29, 10:29, 10:30, and at 11:03.
The first 6 were medium blasts; the last one was huge.
Usually we are notified ahead of time of blasting, but the most recent email only indicated blasting from June 1-3.
Today is the last full day of my shift. Guy and Christine will be taking over tomorrow.