Tag Archives: coast guard

Another Wind Storm

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 15-25 NE
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Waves about a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • Haven’t seen many boats out aside from the Coast guard boat

Maintenance

  • Just staying on top of running the generator, still need to fill the fresh water tank before I can do more pressure washing, I did a bit yesterday
  • the wind is supposed to pick up the next couple days so I might have to walk around picking up those roofing shingles again

Ecological

  • The pups still have not gone in the water, currently, there is one on the east side of the house and one by the lighthouse.
  • The older males are fighting with each other, they each have bite marks and blood on them, there are 4 of them right now

Nice weather

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 0-10 NE
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Calm

Boats/Visitors

  • Saw a few boats out there today including the coast guard boat doing maintenance on the green buoy

Maintenance

  • Walked around picking up all those roofing shingles that blew off in the last big wind, would like to continue cleaning up by pressure washing but I don’t have nearly enough fresh water and the desalinator is not running very well, hopefully, this is resolved soon

Ecological

  • the pups are not together but don’t stray too far from each other, they haven’t gone in the water yet
  • there are still 4 mature males on island and one molting young female

Snow and Coast guard

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 NE
  • Sky: Clear and Sunny
  • Water: A bit choppy, no big waves

Boats/Visitors

  • Guy came by today to deliver fuel and help me with the desalinator, I had some freezing issues with it
  • Coast Guard also dropped by in their helicopter to do some lighthouse maintenance

Maintenance

  • I ran the generator for awhile last night, will do so again tonight
  • tried to run desal but had a freezing issue so will try again when it warms up a bit

Ecological

  • The pup that is alone right now decided the front door was a good place to sleep so I’ve been using the side door
  • the elephants don’t seem too bothered by the snow
  • there are about 3 males around right now, the alpha chases the other two off when they get close

Search and Rescue Operations Underway

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Weather

  • Visibility: 1 – 5 miles
  • Wind: 25-35 knts W
  • Sky: Clear
  • Water: 1-2 meter waves with white caps
  • Heavy fog crept in and out through the day, fog horn went off a couple of times

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Search and Rescue Operation currently underway for 58 year old asian male kayaker who hasn’t been seen since yesterday.
    • I received the information this morning from Pearson College about an active search and rescue for a kayaker who left from Beecher Bay on Monday afternoon. I immediately did a sweep of the Race Rocks perimeter and a scan of the area from the top of the lighthouse. There was a rescue helicopter and several marine vessels around the area throughout the day. As of 2200 hrs on Tuesday he hasn’t been seen.

Helicopter Generator Swap

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots North
  • Sky: mostly overcast, some rain in the evening.
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • There were eight elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • That is the most I have seen out here during this current shift.
  • Three of the younger males enjoyed a spirited bout or two.
  • The rest of them snoozed off in pairs or alone.
  • The birds and sea lions were definitely disrupted by the helicopter.

Maintenance

  • Kyle and four men from the Coast Guard removed the old Generator B.
  • A Coast Guard helicopter then dropped off a new generator, and took away the old one.
  • They then placed the new generator in its spot.
  • I helped out with various auxiliary tasks, but mostly just took photographs.
  • Tidied up loose tools after everyone had departed.

Boats

  • Second Nature.
  • A few eco-tours.

Visitors

  • Kyle, the four Coast Guard men, and Ian and Stephen.
  • They all departed in the early afternoon.

Other

  • Coast Guard helicopter overflight.

 

Mystery Ship

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Weather

  • Visibility: 5-15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots SE, at times up to 18
  • Sky: foggy much of the day
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • The elephant seals were down in the water near the jetty
  • Saw 5 cormorants going on an adventure on a floating log.

Maintenance

  • The usual chores

Boats

  • I spied a rather official looking ship south of Race Rocks, but it wasn’t marked on the AIS marine vessel tracking website.
  • It looked to me like a Canadian Coast Guard ship, though it was not the Sir Wilfred Laurier.
  • A few eco-tours came by today.
  • The Ogden Point Dive Boat was over near Middle Rock around noon.

Proficient Pearson Painters

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knots West
  • Sky: overcast, then sunny, then overcast
  • Water: 2′ chop

Ecological

  • Much frenetic elephant seal activity throughout the island and surrounding waters.
  • The speed with which they go from slow motion sparring to sleeping side by side is adorable.
  • One seal was even snoozing on the ramp with his head under water.
  • Between 11 and 15 elephant seals on Great Race.
  • We discovered several seagull nests with eggs in them. First ones of the year!

Maintenance

  • The four of us engaged in much painting.
  • The boathouse floor was finished, along with the derrick room floor, and the yellow on the jetty.
  • In the afternoon we used the shorefront pressure washer to remove algae from several walls.
  • As is customary out here, we cleaned off the solar panels.

Boats

  • Kyle and Guy brought out the pressure washer and various other items at 8:10.
  • One rental boat was caught fishing illegally within the reserve.
  • I called Pedder Bay Marina to inform them.
  • One coast guard boat passed through the reserve today.
  • Also a few eco-tours.

Visitors

  • Kyle and Guy briefly to drop off items.
  • In the late afternoon, Maya, Tazi, and Ali came over to the eco-guardians house for tea, cookies, and the American version of Rubber Soul.

Jan 20-21

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DSC_0049

Sir Wilfred Laurier alongside Rosedale Reef buoy, Port Angeles and Olympic mountains in background

Jan 20: Wind North around 15 knots, partly clear sky.  The Coast Guard vessel Sir Wilfred Laurier came by to do a buoy tender on the Rosedale reef marker.  1 pleasure craft and 1 ecotour.  I called the eco tour company to let them know they were too close to mammals and that there had been some disturbance.

DSC_0080

It looked like they took the buoy out and replaced it, I think the old buoy is on the deck of the Laurier, a zodiac with a few people stayed behind to finish work on the new one.

Jan 21: Wind N around 15 knots, periods of rain.  Younger male elephant seal has been on the main island most days lately. Towards dusk I heard the vocalizations of a elephant seal pup and mother again on West rock.  I think this is probably a second birth for this season. There have been 4 regular female elephant seals on the small island and there hasn’t been a sign of the other pup since the first week..  Worked on fire wood cutting and storage, cleaned sensors on YSI salinity instrument that had been giving faulty reading.

PamBelsealbirthJan242001

Pam Birley took this picture from Camera 1 of the second pup born in 2015