Category Archives: weather notes

First sea lions on Main!

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Weather

The night between Sunday and Saturday was a noisy one :the horn was honking a major part of the night and even in the morning on Monday. Later in the day the wind was strong 29 knots at 16:00 and 32 around 19:00.

Ecological

The first sea lions (californians) were on their favorite spot ,the flat rocks closed to the jetty. We discovered 1 and pretty soon they were 3 and among them a huge one .We have to get ready for a very noisy environment ;even 2 of them can be very tiring ,so when you think about hundreds of them…plugs plugs ! …but we are lucky ,they are late , last year they were already here at this time  .  No more elephant seal on the rock. I miss them a lot!  For now we have  found 7 dead chicken bodies,mainly because of territorial fights.

Boats

Many watching boats and some beautiful sailboats (those ones not in the ecological reserve). Actually one came on Saturday and it was something to see it speeding with the current and without engine.

Maintenance

The fire pump died! this old timer was worn out even if it worked pretty well to now! Solar panel pretty dirty and the whole island ,alleys and rocks,roofs …everything is mainly white because of the gulls .Rain will be welcome.

Busy Weekend for the watching boats

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Weather

On Friday the morning was calm ,the wind coming from West picked up only late in the afternoon at 25 knots at the most.The visibility was over 15 miles and air felt like 16 degrees celsius at 5:00 AM.Te water temperature was 12 degrees and the barometric pressure 101.4 KPA.Sunrise at 5.44 and sunset at 20:54. On Saturday it has been really calm especially around  noon where it was 0.26 knots and the flag looked like dead. On Sunday very calm in the morning and very windy in the afternoon to midnight around 35 knots;a North East wind becoming West later. July has been a pretty windy month !

Maintenance and other

On Friday, Aziz recorded more videos :by example the whaler in action and we brought him back to Pearson College before noon. We came back just in time around 5:00 because at 7:00 the wind was around 28 knots and reached 30 knots at 10:00PM. We had a plane above like usual at the end of the week. On Saturday Guy disassembled the derrick shed door that need to be changed.The seawater pump was on for a few hours .  On Saturday I sent the end of the month report and the Seawater datas

Boats 

We had a parade of watching boats without interruption  the whole day on Saturday!!! and some divers spent a long time on South Rocks ! they could stand up! I wished we had an horn!

A special visitor: Aziz Sonawalla came for a video on Race Rocks

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Weather

At 5:00: Light west wind , air temperature :12 degrees,a little bit foggy to 7:20.AM .It has been a calm day ,25 knots at the most around 9:30 PM.

Ecological

We found a 2nd chick always at the same spot with the guts over( back stairs /Eco -guardian’s house). more sea lions mainly on Middle rocks.later in the day another dead body . this time injury on the neck on a pretty big chick.

Boats 

Many watching vessels, a huge barge with some equipment on it

Other

A plane above

Visitors

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Aziz Sonawalla

Kyle and Tyron came for a quick tour and Aziz was with them ready for a non stop recording of everything on the Island. Aziz was a second year student at Pearson college  and is working this Summer in the Communication department.he followed us all day long from early morning to late in the evening. and stayed over night. He tried to catch all the wildlife and the Beauty around . The purpose of this video is to show and explain the reserve to all  the concerned people .DSC_7635 DSC_0091

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The sea lions are coming back

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Weather

It was very foggy in the morning at 5:00 with fog horn on even in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday. it honks to 10 AM.After it was sunny and the wind picked up to 28 knots in the evening

Ecological

We found the first Sea lions sleeping on Main rock Today behind the student’s house and later we discovered  around 20 of them on Middle Rock :they are back . Many harbour seals and babies on the rocks around.DSC_7613

Maintenance

We went to the student’s house to do some needed cleaning in the kitchen and tidying up .

Boats 

We had many watching boats That day and among them we had the surprise to see 2 guys with diving suit (one from the Navy) standing up on their  surf boards with oars to propulse them. The tides and currents were OK but imagine 50  or more people doing the same ! They were in the middle of the passage but not closed enough to make them go! We checked to be sure they left safe and it took at least half an hour.They had some diving materiel with them on a bag .DSC_7614

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Kyle brought a long time friend for a short visit.

 

 

Whaler back

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Weather

It has been a very windy day. At 5:00AM we had 34 knots with a gale warning in effect ;the sea was choppy and we had a clear sky with 10 miles of visibility. At 7:45 AM it was still around 33 knots and after a decrease at 19 knots at the end of the morning the wind picked up again and stayed strong between 25 to 28 late in the evening.

ecological

5 geese visiting on Main,no Sealions,only on Elephant seal the adult male . More gulls have returned

Maintenance

The camera on the gulls have been cleaned and stored. The seawater pump has been on for 4 hours and the desalinator for 6 hours. We cleaned the dirty panels as usual and sweeped the alleys full of feathers. We got the whaler back and everything is working well,he starts OK now.

Other

Plane over

 

 

 

 

Foggy Nights

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Weather

We had a very windy Friday . The whole day the wind stayed around 30 knots from 5:00 AM to 18:00 PM . The rest of the WE was beautiful but foggy at night and in the morning. The fog horn has been working a lot those last mornings and nights but in the afternoons it has been really gorgeous .

Maintenance

The pump has been working for 8 hours in the WE, actually 4 hours each day, at the high tide and more hours will be necessary. The zodiac is now clean underneath and will be lighter and faster. Usual chores ;we have to clean the house windows almost 2 times a day.

Ecological

First flying exercises for the older chickens. I found a dead body with the guts above ! River otter ‘s job pretty sure. At the most 15 Sea lions on the adjacent rocks . Not one on Main and only 2 elephant seals .they have lost a lot of weight now.

Boats 

Many watching vessels and because there is not so much to see they make people enjoy their speed ,forgetting sometimes or often, where they are .

Census Day and fishing activity in the ecological reserve

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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)

 

 

 

 

 

Check up for the whaler

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Weather

West lo southwest light winds under 20 knots have been on  almost all the time since last week. We got some fog and the fog horn running the whole night between Sunday and Monday to a stop at 8:30 in the morning.The rest of the day was sunny with a flat sea…DSC_0191

Ecological

At low tide the water was pretty far discovering an interesting world of rocks covered with fresh algae. We could count only 4 sea lions (Steelers) around and 60 chickens seen from the front window. If we compare with last year we had 110 sea lions and 87 chickens from the front window .What a different situation.Last year the first one on the jetty came on the 23rd.We will see …the usual 4 elephant seals are most of the time sleeping on Main Rock and the babies are growing fast. Not so much drama I guess because they have enough space but the gulls closed to the path are still defensive and this night a new one was born with 2 more coming (the last ones )so it’s going to be even more difficult to go the jetty! No new dead birds.(only 3 to now ) On Sunday we could count more than 16 whale watching vessels  way beyond the green boyd because of a long pod of orcas.DSC_0217DSC_0220

Maintenance

Guy changed the boat pump for a more efficient one.It was 360 GPM and now it’s 750. He left in the fog early on Monday because of an appointment with a Yamaha specialist. At the college they took the whaler off the water and put it on a trailer.We took the zodiac until the trailer is ready. Camera 3 has been stoppedDSC_0194

Other

3 times this week we had a plane above. Watching boats like usual.

 

 

Important visitors from Pearson College

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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_0187DSC_0056 DSC_0163DSC_0207

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.  DSC_0018CSC_0030DSC_0022