Category Archives: Military Activity

helicopter and new seawater sample methods

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Cloudy with light wind in the morning. Calm seas. Rain. Moderate NE winds in the afternoon. Low East swell.

The helicopter landed  around 1000 hrs
It came in from the East. Circled Greater Race once. Then on it’s second trip around it nosed in from the South-East and landed on the helicopter landing pad at 1007.
As best as I can tell there were 3 people inside it.
They stayed for less than 5 minutes. The guy in the back at the sliding door took pictures of the lighthouse. In the photograph you can see he’s only using his cell phone.
The number on the side was 437.

Our seawater sample methods have changed as of tomorrow. Our contact at IOS informed me that we will now only be using the digital YSI salinity and temperature meter. And once a month we are supposed to collect a sample using the old method for quality control and to monitor any measurement drift on the digital meter

P1010457

YSI digital salinity and temperature meter. Provided by the Institute of Ocean Sciences

Off station from 1130 to 1330
Jamieson is back on the big island
-got gas
-took in garbage and regular recycling
-took in electronics for recycling
-worked on SOP

Desalinator Maintenance

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Strong W, SW, and S winds this morning. Strong W for the rest of the day. Rain.

Mike Cullen + apprentice came out to do maintenance on the desalinator.

month end

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Calm this morning, with mixed weather all day. Started out SE, backed to Westerly. Periods of torrential rain. DND blasting: 1200, 1205. Both big, loud single bangs.

Tour boats: 9

22 Canada Geese
Keeping my eye out for Sooty Shearwaters, no sign yet

Mammal Count from tower at 1130
9 elephant seals behind boat shed and on jetty 47 harbour seals (mostly Middle Rocks)
129 Stellar sea lions (mostly along the North shore of the main island)
200 California sea lions (mostly along the South shore in front of the student house)
Seems like this bad weather compelled a lot of the sea lions to leave. Maybe they’re just out in the water waiting for the swell and surge to ease up.

I spotted the Stellar sea lion with the line around his neck again today and got a few pictures.

-entered and sent water sampling data to IOS
-compiled month end report
-photographed branded sea lions
-fixed electric fence after storm damage
-tidied keepers house

End of calm weather

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Overcast all day, light ESE wind in the morning, dead calm in the late afternoon. Big storm forecasted for this weekend.

Single DND blasts: 0920, 0925, 1045, 1300
Tour boats: 7

Off station from 1430 to 1530 to drop Jamieson back at the College

Elephant seals were gnawing on the boat trailer while trying to get the boat on. They definitely are not concerned about humans while they are in the water.

-Got pressure washer running with help from Jamieson
-Put barrels below downspouts to collect water for pressure washing
-Ran desalinator

First Visitor

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Sunny all day, light to no wind. 7.5′ tide, the swell has dropped right off. Strange tide cycle and currents for the next couple days. Almost no current for the afternoon high tide.

Water visibility is crystal clear. If you’re thinking of going for a dive, now is the time.

1450 DND blast
1510 DND blast

Off station from 0910 to 1200 to bring Jamieson out to visit.
Got gas from Pedder Bay.

-ran desalinator
-washed solar panels
-sent branded sea lion photos to NOAA contact

DND testing

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Sunny and calm all day. Wind picked up to 25 kts this evening. Small swell still running.
Sunny enough that I didn’t need to run the generator  to top up the battery bank.

Tour boats: 4

DND testing:
0935 2 blasts; sea lions were startled and cleared out off the North-East flats
1120 1 blast
1125 1 blast
1350 1 big loud bang

12 elephant seals. They were all playing in the surge on the boat ramp in the morning. They came back ashore in the afternoon and piled up behind the boat shed.

-fixed sea lion fence in the morning
-cleaned solar panels
-found missing hardware and hung boat shed doors
-finished cleaning the rainwater tank

September 9/13

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1040hrs DND started detonating explosives at Bentinck island  – 3 explosions followed by approx 10 minutes break and 3 more. sealions took notice and stood up,but few moved.

 

First day on watch.
Foggy all day so no boat count.
Chris and Erik have left all the systems in order so I just double checked things and settled in.

A nice, patriotic photo for my first day as EcoGuardian at Race Rocks

A nice, patriotic photo for my first day as EcoGuardian at Race Rocks

Strong Wind, DND, Coast Guard, Elephant seals, and Oystercatchers

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30 knot winds at North Race

30 knot winds at North Race

The wind since Sunday evening has been very strong and even reached over 50 knots on Monday just before midnight. The photo shows North Race during a 30 knot wind. As the wind carries the water in the photo, it also sprayed the house windows which now are in sorely need of a clean.

 

During the winds, the Coast Guard paid a vist.

Coast Guard Helicopter passing by

Coast Guard helicopter passing by a quick visit to the island, hovering over the helicopter pad for several seconds without landing and then taking off again. It looked like it was having trouble with its stability in the wind.

Another noise-maker for the past two weeks have been the blasts on DND. There have been as many as 5 or 6 per day on severals days since my arrival June 24.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Juvenile female elephant seal

Juvenile female elephant seal

A new female visitor came to the island Wednesday night. I noticed a juvenile elephant seal

Tuesday evening resting near the fire hose box. She was gone the following day but returned at around 22:30 when I ran into her with Chunk and Misery in the shallow water near the jetty while taking a water sample. Something that has been interesting upon her arrival is that Chunk and Misery have both changed their regular resting spots. Possibly just a coincidence, Misery has always been the one closest to the female.

Parent oystercatcher with chick

Parent oystercatcher with chick

On a bird note, the new oystercatchers have left the nest. The two have been exploring the jetty and surrounding area accompanied by two adults who become very vocal when any danger is in sight. The eggs on the opposite side of the island have yet to hatch.

 

Carrier, Vulture, Relief Guardian

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Today a relief guardian came out to take my place for about a week.   A pair of Turkey Vultures  landed on the island and an air craft carrier passed by in the distance behind Rosedale Reef.  Oddly, on close examination this carrier appears to be carrying cars not aircraft on its upper deck.

http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/2006/cathartesa/cathartesa.htm

turkey vulture
See this file on Turkey Vultures at Race Rocks

carrier