Today was very grey and rainy but it didn’t stop the animals from showing off.

All 3 elephant seals (1 male, 2 females) are now on the main island. The smaller of the 2 females has been asleep in the grass behind the student house since last night. The larger one was chased up the boat launch by the male. For about 20 minutes he chased her around, lunging and throwing his head, grabbing her hind flippers and shaking them, both were very vocal. Since they are large and not so graceful this event (I’d call it a low-speed chase) involved lots of rest breaks. Finally the male made his way back to the water and the female found a place to sleep in the grass.

 

The torrential downpour was the perfect opportunity to deep clean the main house. Between cleaning I spotted 2 transient orcas, as well as the darker of the new sea otters a little while later.

 

This place is pretty unbelievable even when the weather isn’t!

Facility Work: (today and yesterday)

• Cleaned solar panels
• Split wood
• Deep clean main house 
• Cleaned windows of the main house inside and out
• Cleared boat launch of drift wood
• With the help of a very motivated Pearson student we also finished gardening around the old bricks at the base of the flywheel!

 

Noted Vessel Traffic:

• Ecotourism vessels

Weather Events:

• Saturday, March 23:
  • Sky: Dark cloudy skies, on and off heavy rain
  • Wind: High of WNW 10 knots, Low of ESE 1 knot
  • Sea: Calm
  • Temperature: Low 8^oC, High  10^oC

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?