Michael, Isaac B., Alex, Dom, Zoe, Isaac D., Peyton and Connor

Feb 6: Fog overnight set off fog horn, rain, wind light throughout day.  Worked on finishing clean up from basement renovations in guest house and tidying upstairs, which hadnt been used for several months, in preparation for students coming.

Courtney brought a group of 8 students– from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland– out to Race Rocks in the afternoon to stay the weekend.  They brought a few fire extinguishers to replace ones that were condemned during annual testing in January. We did an orientation and went over safety guidelines and then went for a tour up the tower.

Feb 7:  Rain in the morning and intermittent throughout the day, wind variable increasing to around 30 knots in the evening. 1 pleasure craft in the reserve.

Alex and Peyton dove off the jetty on the slack tide just after noon.  I was on watch with Isaac B. and had the station boat launched and ready in case of any problems.  Isaac operated the dive link unit which allowed us to communicate through the water with the divers. They cleaned the underwater camera and changed the camera orientation.  We watched the image on my cell phone via wi-fi and were able to communicate to them how the image looked.

In the afternoon the students helped with some service projects including moving driftwood for cutting, setting up scaffolding under the crane, moving and stacking firewood, and sorting garbage that had been picked up in the jetty bay.  Peyton prepared soup, pizza and home made cinnamon rolls which we all ate together in the ecoguardian’s house for dinner.

setting up scaffolding on the crane deck

even sorting garbage can be fun

Feb 8: Partly sunny, wind around 10 knots N in the morning picking up to 30 knots N in the evening.  2 whale watching boats, 1 pleasure craft in the reserve.

Chris came out on Second Nature mid-morning to pick up students and bring them back to campus.  They helped offload cardboard and construction waste from the composting toilet installation. The new composting toilet had some issues so Chris helped with trouble shooting while he was out, rainwater was getting down the vent pipe causing excess liquid buildup in the evaporation chamber.

The group was a pleasure to have on the island; fun, helpful and appreciative of the unique opportunity to be out on Race Rocks.