Jan 5: Cloudy, rain, 10 knots E.  Had a lot of rain water in a short time, there was a lot of standing water.  Some water leaked under the doors into the engine building, down the roof vent in the battery room and the drain on the roof got plugged up.  I worked on the roof drainage and mopped up in the engine building.  Finalized month end report. Foghorn was going off throughout the night.  One sports fishing/recreation vessel.

Chunk was on the island in the morning but left mid day.

Jan 6, in the centre a ring necked sealion is visible, hauled out on South Islands.

Jan 6: Cloudy NE wind 10-15. I made a reducing coupling attachment for the downspout on the engine bldg which worked to flush out the pipe and drain the roof. Went off island in the afternoon to bring all the island extinguishers in for annual inspection, picked up gasoline at marina and brought the extinguishers back out (minus two, “condemned” because of rust). There was 1 private and 1 ecotour vessel in reserve.

There was a neck ringed sealion seen at Race Rocks last week and was reported to the DFO marine mammal rescue line. The sealions are mostly on the outer islands this time of year and can be difficult to observe from the main island.  The ecotour boats get a closer view of them from the water.  In this photo a ring necked individual is visible.

Jan 7: Clear sky in the morning but low clouds rolled in before noon and the foghorn went off for a short period, wind 15 to 2o knots NE.  Courtney passed through on second nature, on her way back from picking it up from getting serviced. 3 ecotour boats in the reserve.  Worked on taking out a wall in the guest house basement to make room for the new composting toilet.

While walking outside I heard the distinct call of a distant elephant seal pup.  With binoculars I was able to make out a new elephant seal pup out on West Rock.  The mother was nearby and the two males were higher up on the rocks.