Whale Palooza!

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I don’t think I could’ve looked in any direction today and NOT seen a whale, and thats saying a lot considering I have a 360 degree view of the ocean on this island.

As soon as the sun came up there were humpbacks on the horizon, some just passing by, others lunge feeding.

Around mid day multiple families of transient killer whales passed by the reserve, stopping just outside to hunt a sea lion. These families included 2 whales I have always wanted to see – T019B Galiano and T019C Spouter! They were breaching and tail slapping, putting on a great show for myself and the visiting Pearson students.

The day continued with more and more whales and no matter how many I see, it will never get old.

Facility Work:

  • Repair electric fence
  • Topped up diesel in the generator
  • Ran EQ charge on batteries 

Visitors:

  • 14 Pearson students + 1 teacher 
  • 4 contractors

Vessels:

  • Private: 2
  • Ecotourism: 14

Golden Hour

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Today was jam packed!

My morning started the same way it will start every day for the next month – fixing the fence. I also moved the sea lions off the boat launch so its clear yet I swear the SECOND I turn my back they just pile right back up. 

Not a bad view to start the day!

The windows on the student building are being replaced so the contractors were out bright and early to get started. Throughout the day we had 2 groups of Pearson students come out which is always fun because I love to show off this little island. They also never seem to mind when I talk about marine mammals which is more than I can for most people in my life who have to listen to my yap about them!

There were humpbacks in every direction, big blows in the distance, pectoral fins in the air, and splashy breaches on the outskirts of the reserve. I felt even luckier when a massive killer whale passed by!

Humpback at sunset

A second female elephant showed up today, she had some trouble getting past the sea lions but finally made it to the grass outside the house. The Calis don’t seem to mind her but the Stellers don’t like her at all.

I don’t think she likes the Stellers either

I finished the day off outside watching the sun set as the sea lions basked in the final rays.

Facility Work:

  • Topped up battery electrolytes for those that were low
  • Repaired electric fence (about 50 times over)

DND:

3 blasts today all with varying reactions, only the initial blast caused some sea lions to flush into the water.

Home Sweet Home!

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Well, it’s been a few months…but I’m back!

I arrived early this afternoon, ready to tuck into another month of living it up on the rocks. The autumn shift from 25ish sea lions to over 1000 is overwhelming, as is the smell. That being said, I love it and I honestly wish there was 1000 more (ask me if I feel the same way at the end of the month).

Sea lions galore!

Another animal that has increased in number since I left is the humpbacks. I cannot look out to the horizon and not at least 10 of them, it is breathtaking.

As I reacclimatized and walked around the island I watched as large California sea lion barrelled his way through the electric fence, stripping the wood right off the post. He then became stuck on the inside of the fence looking very confused about his situation before he tumbled back over. Thus began my first task of this trip and what I anticipate to be a task I re do multiple times a day – repairing the fence.

In other animals news, I came across 2 entangled sea lions. They are both already known to DFO and the Marine Mammal Rescue teams. I believe the Cali is actually scarring from an old entanglement whereas the Steller is still very much active. I’ll be updating the teams to let them know he is still hanging around the area.

Steller sea lion with an active entanglement

California sea lion with entanglement scarring

I also came across a gull looking a little worse for wear with a fishing lure stuck in his beak. It was still very active so not an easy one to try and help. Poor guy!

Ouch!

Well, thats about it for me today, plenty more tomorrow I’m sure!

Our Last Day on Station!

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I cant believe it has been a month already!

We spent our last day doing the end of month and, end of shift tasks, like taking stock of fuel used, and uploading the water sampling data set.

We also made sure that everything is ready for Kendra, the next Eco-Guardian.

Sharing a space with 1000 + Sea Lions and Seagulls has been an interesting time, and I think it will take me sometime to get used to the silence.

Until next time – Neha and Scott

Weather: Sunny all day, Winds pretty steady around 8knts SE All day

Whale Watching Vessels: 13

Private Vessels: 5

**Loads of Humpbacks hanging about :)

September Sea Surface Temp and Salinity Dataset

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Station: RACE ROCKS
Observer: James Tuohy, Neha Acharya-Patel, Scott Murphy Month: September
YSI ID: 13 Year: 2024
YSI YSI
Temp Sal
Day Time ºC ppt
1 1425 12.3 31.7
2 1500 12.5 31.4
3 1524 12.5 31.9
4 1615 11.7 31.9
5 1640 12.1 31.9
6 1655 12.6 31.4
7 1727 11.3 31.8
8 1745 11.7 31.2
9 1820 11.9 31.1
10 Missed Day * :(
11 1810 12.4 30.7
12 905 11.6 31.4
13 1042 11.9 30.3
14 1150 11.7 31.2
15 1230 12.5 31.2
16 1305 11.2 32.0
17 1400 10.4 32.7
18 1450 10.6 32.9
19 1540 9.5 33.3
20 1610 11.4 32.7
21 1706 11.1 32.6
22 1739 10.5 32.7
23 1820 11.0 32.4
24 1820 11.4 32.5
25 924 10.6 32.8
26 1045 10.2 32.9
27 1145 11.0 32.0
28 1305 10.7 32.5
29 1320 10.7 32.4
30 1342 10.9 32.8
Data Taken with Old Method: September 30, 13:40
YSI From Ocean: Temp. 10.9, Sal: 32.5
Metal Thermometer: 10.9
Glass Thermometer: 11.1
Hydrometer: 252

Our Last Census Day!

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Sunday, September 29, 2024

Today was our last census!!!

We took our coffees up to the tower for the 7am Low tide.

Animal Census:

Birds:

  • Gulls: 1580
  • Cormorants: 22
  • Canada Goose: 22
  • Turnstones:
  • Shorebird: 1

Would love help on the ID of this.. email us if you know!

Mammals:

  • Stellar Sea Lion: 306
  • California Sea Lion: 834
  • Harbour Seal: 81
  • Elephant Seal female: 2

Animal Tracking and Injuries:

Spotted a Stellar Sea lion with fishing line wrapped around his neck ☹

Reported to DFO.

Since we are leaving on Tuesday, we spent the day cleaning the house, and washing the windows.

As well as our daily fence repair. It’s a particularly nauseating feeling to wake up each morning, look out at the beautiful view, and survey the extent of fence damage that has happened overnight…. This is a task I definitely will not miss.

Weather: Sunny all day, Very windy all night (35+ Knts, dropping all day to around 20knts W/SW)

Whale Watching Vessels: 10

Private Vessels: 2

**Loads of Humpbacks hanging about 😊

Water Woes

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Friday, September 27, 2024

Unfortunately for us, the levels of water in the massive cistern beside the house are low, so we have not been running the desalinator lately, and despite our best water saving efforts we need more …

Until the sea lions (and the massive amounts of poop that comes with them) clear out we aren’t able to fill the cistern with seawater. So…  today, Greg came out with a massive tank of freshwater on the back of the Second Nature to top up our reservoir.

This was a bit of a production as we had to lay out ~ 75m of fire hose from the reservoir to the dock, but we did it, and now we won’t be leaving the next eco-guardian in a lurch.

On another note, we have a returning Elephant Seal. This lady is untagged, and definitely knows her way around the island. We first saw her at 11 am on the jetty, and by 2 pm she was in the grass by the main path to the house.

I hope she sticks around for the weekend!

Weather: Sunny all day, Wind at around 16knts SW all day.

Whale Watching Vessels: 15

Private Vessels: 0

**Loads of Humpbacks close to the Island today 😊

Grey Days Ahead!

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Thursday, September 26, 2024

Finally, some real lighthouse keeping weather! Greg paid us a visit with a freshly tuned up Second Nature. We topped up the large diesel holding tank that is used to power the generator. We laid out some firehose as tomorrow we will top up the fresh water holding tank. Normally, we are able to make our own water but the cistern is running low and the area where sea water is pumped from is right where the sealions are hanging out.

Weather: Intermittent rain all day with brief periods of heavier fall. Wind 8-14kt with some heavier gusts.

Whale Watching Vessels: 13

Private Vessels: 3

Elephant Seal Frustrations

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Tuesday September 24, 2024

This morning we woke up to fog lapping at the shores of the island. Its honestly very magical to be fully socked in on a rock that you know is completely surrounded by water. But also, this really throws the problem of a malfunctioning foghorn into sharp relief.

We were obviously not alone in this thought, as we read an 8am email from the Coast Guard team who will be out here tomorrow to take another stab at repairing it.

We spent the morning cleaning the solar panels, making the daily fence repairs, and doing some general tidying for the week.

We also tried to capture some more identification photos of the Elephant Seal who has been around. Last week we reported her with my best guess of her tag number based off a couple glimpses from when her tail was at just the right angle.

The group we reported her to responded right away with a bunch of interesting information about her life. She was born in Ano Nuevo California in 2013. She has been spotted there many, many times since then, during the winter months, and has even had two babies of her own!

But they have no sightings of her in other locations up until now! So that is super exciting!

From a Race Rocks perspective, she also seems to be a Newcomer. Elephant seals have full reign of the island, and the guys who visit here often know that, and take advantage of it….. as recorded in many previous blogs,

This gal, however, is hanging down on the rocks on the South side of the island amongst all of her Sea Lion relatives.

In addition, speaking with some of the previous Eco-Guardians, there is usually another seal (Beverly) who is the first to arrive. She has a pink tag.. so we know this is not her. Maybe there is new newcomer on the block….?

The previous eco-guardians also shared this neat image, that shows the tag color correspondence with animal birthplace!

What a cool and simple way to track such amazing animals!

Anyways, I will continue on trying to get a clear tag picture.

Whale Watching Vessels: 10

Private Vessels: 0

Weather: Foggy and Overcast Day, Winds SW picking up to 15 knts in the Evening

Census on a Cloudy Day

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Sunday September, 22

Census Day!

This morning, Scott and I headed up to the top of the tower for our weekly animal count.

We added the elephant seal to this week’s survey because she is still sticking around!

Yesterday we beefed up the fence on the West side of the island between the helipad and the generator shed. Since this one isn’t anchored into the bedrock, it has been taking quite a beating from the westerly winds.

Greg also dropped by yesterday and gave us some groceries for the week. The water cistern is quite low, so we have ceased using the desalinator, and are trying to be more conservative than normal with the water. Fingers crossed, Greg will be able to boat over some more water this week!

Today, we checked and topped up the batteries, and tidied up the basement in the main house. I can’t believe we only have a week left on the island!

Whale Watching Vessels: 15

Private Vessels: 4

Weather: Cloudy and Overcast Day, Winds SW picking up to 15 knts in the Afternoon

Animal Census:

Birds:

  • Gulls: 1155
  • Cormorants: 228
  • Oystercatchers: 3
  • Canada Goose: 6
  • Turnstones: 17 ** They are hard to see amongst all the sea lions

Mammals:

  • Stellar Sea Lion: 397
  • California Sea Lion: 780
  • Harbour Seal: 85
  • Elephant Seal female: 1