The 15 elephant seals were slower down to the water today, perhaps due to the influx of students.
One California Sea Lion spent most of the exam at the end of the jetty, unfazed by all the activity going on. Quite unusual for a sea lion!
All manner of barnacle, shell creatures, and algae plant things were examined today by the Pearson College students.
Visitors!
Approximately 30 folk from Pearson College made their way out to Race Rocks today.
This included Laura Verhegge who was running the Marine Sciences field exam, Johanna who was observing Pearson’s instruction techniques, one 2nd year student, one alumni, Chris, and 25 or so students.
The first group arrived at 8:15, the final group left at about 12:15.
Maintenance/Chores
Weed whacking.
Algicide application. Photo shows before scrubbing.
Safety observation and hosting of students during exam.
Ran the desalinator.
Boats
The Ocean River Kayak Discovery Shuttle and Haiaku each took two trips of students to and from Race Rocks.
On the return voyage the tide was very low, and the sea lions were in the way, so the shuttle boat “docked” against the rocks on the NE part of Great Race.
At least 4 eco-tours came by the reserve today.
Saw a nice red sailed sailboat to the north of the reserve.
One boat spent much of the day fishing on the edge of the reserve.
Wind: 0-5 knots W in the morning, by 14:00 it had jumped to 40+ knots.
The highest reading I saw was 48 knots, which is no longer a “strong gale” but a “storm”.
Sky: clear in the morning, dark clouds by evening.
Water: initially calm, but the wind kicked up massive waves!
Forecast: looks like more gale tomorrow.
Ecological
15 elephant seals on Great Race.
A few California Sea Lions on the jetty today.
One lone crane fly was attached to a window for the second day straight. The gale blew it away.
The same elephant seal who blocked me outside yesterday tried the same trick again! Only this time I was already inside, so I wisely used a different door.
Maintenance
Goose work.
Weed eating. Or “whacking” if you prefer.
Boats
6 eco-tours today.
1 small pleasure craft had what appeared to be a family with young children fishing in the reserve. They departed very quickly before I could identify their boat, perhaps realizing their mistake independent of me?
The sea lions were surprisingly calm today considering how many boats seemed to be too close.
The injured California sea lion was near the derrick again.
Boats
9 eco-tours came by today. I guess there was a big backlog of tourists after several days of high winds.
I think 8/9 of the boats today looked to be too close. Certainly the boats that viewed the sea lions near the derrick were the closest I have ever seen.
The viewing distance for boats near marine mammal haul-outs has been accepted by the Ecotour community to be 100 metres.
Elephant Seals: 17 (12 on Great Race, 5 on Middle Rock)
River Otter: 1
Seagulls: 563
Pigeon Guillemots: 54
Black Turnstones: 51
Canada Geese: 21
Black Oystercatchers: 14
Savannah Sparrows: 6
Bald Eagles: 5 (4 immature, 1 adult)
Rock Sandpipers: 4
Cormorant: 2
Surfbird: 1
Maintenance
Canada Goose themed work.
Boats
One eco-tour came by today.
Had a phone call from Kyle this morning to let me know that he would be picking me up around 13:00 for a First Nations cultural sensitivity workshop at Pearson College.
This was a surprise to me, but nice to get off the island for a few hours.
Always good to be reminded and educated on past and present issues.
Visitors
When Kyle arrived to pick me up he came ashore to take a look at a few things, and then admire the elephant seals.
