Wildlife notes

New sea lions are still coming to Race Rocks.  The fence at the Jetty is destroyed and they have claimed that piece of prime real estate.  In other parts of the island, their intrusion beyond the existing fence line is more a slow sneaky creep.  I am starting to see them everywhere, even in the clouds. Despite it all, I am growing fond of them.

The sea lions on the Jetty and in the sky. I will have to send them all off in the morning so I can collect the sea water data.

Visitors

Three technicians from Shift came to plan the power system upgrade.  Chris, who will be the Eco guardian from Sept 11 to 20 also came out today. The diesel generator technician won’t come until Tuesday but the gas generator is working out well so far. I ran it for a couple hours early this morning and the solar panels kept the batteries at 100% all day.

Facility work

Greg and Richard dropped off a battery powered Hilti hammer drill today and showed me where they wanted the new fence line to run. I have started drilling holes in the rock for the anchors for the new fence line.

Metal rods marking the locations of the drilled holes.

The log from yesterday is still tied up but I am not sure if this a good time of year to be cutting it up on the boat ramp.  The sea lions didn’t mind listening to the hammer drill today and I wonder if they would feel the same about the chainsaw.  I need to wear the hard hat, face shield and ear muffs but with that gear on and focused on the saw, I am afraid of loosing my situational awareness. It is also very slippery right now with their scat smeared about.

• cleaned solar panels
• repaired the electric fence
• drilled holes

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 26
• Private: 7

Weather

Partly cloudy. Wind 1 to 9 knots, direction variable. Daytime temperatures 11 to 15 degrees.