Tag Archives: sunset

Rainbows and Rough seas

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Gold at the end of the jetty?

Gold at the end of the jetty?

Ecological Happenings

  • Strong gale force winds in the morning with showers and rough seas. Bright periods later with rainbows. Gale force winds dropping to a fresh breeze before a calmer evening.
  • Fourth elephant seal seen on North East of the main island. This one seems much smaller, though it is difficult to tell at distance.
  • The two males and female that have been here for a few days rehydrated, by taking dips in the ocean, at the jetty before returning to land.
  • Birds found sheltered spots while sea lions either saw out the rough weather in the ocean or braved the rocks. If they could get up.

Marine Vessels

  •  None

Maintenance

  • Stripped and re-built pressure washer pump. Still not operating correctly.
  • Oil leak to generator ‘B’ investigated and found. Part required to fix problem.
New Elephant seal

New Elephant seal

Male and Female Elephant seal

Male and Female Elephant seal

DSC_5692

Hmmn... maybe not

Hmmn… maybe not

Double bow

Double bow

Immature Bald Eagle

Immature Bald Eagle

The sun tried to break through

The sun tried to break through…….

Sunset

Sunset

Business as usual

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Male sealion soaking up the winter sun

Ecological Happenings

  • A brighter sunnier day after the winds and overcast skies of the last few days.
  • Business as usual after the high winds with animals back on the rocks.
  • One of the Bull Eseals moved up to the lighthouse today while the other remained near the path intersection.

 Marine Vessels

  • 2 pleasure boats in the reserve (plus 2 fishing just outside the reserve).
  • 1 commercial boat (spill clean-up) posing as a pleasure craft came in for a look.
  • 1 whale watching boat.
  • Coastguard helicopter flew overhead using the lighthouse as a way-point along with one private helicopter.
  • Vessels noted to be respecting the speed limit, but not all the proximity, with both the whale watching boat and commercial boat coming too close.

 Maintenance

  • More driftwood moved up the boat ramp to dry.
  • Camera 2 system checks, power and network cycling. This camera continues to give us problems……..
  • Energy monitoring and investigations started, looking at the system, power use, generation and storage on the island.
  • Minor internal works (fire alarms, fan, doors).
  • Door to boat house adjusted to run better on tracks.
To shore!

To shore!

Solar fins at the ready

Solar fins at the ready

Ponderings

Ponderings

Immature cormorant preening

Immature cormorant preening

Cormorants

Cormorants

Commercial pleasure

Commercial pleasure

Sunset

Sunset

March 17

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Sunny, light rain in the late afternoon
Wind: 3-9 knots NE in the morning, 1-6 knots SE in the afternoon, calm at 18:00, 9-15 W in the evening
Air Temperature: Low 7.6°C, High 10.7°C
Ocean Temperature: 8.9°C

The morning was filled with chores: collecting garbage, tidying, cleaning the solar panels and mistaking a swimming seal for a sea otter (three times). The sea otter, which visited the ecological reserve during the winter hasn’t been seen within the past few weeks.

I was off the reserve for a few hours in the afternoon to drop off garbage and pick up gas, groceries, deionized water for the batteries and cleaning supplies. It happened to coincide with Elizabeth May giving a talk at the college.

The sea lions were very active and vocal leading up to the sunset at 19:21.

There were no boats seen in the reserve today.

March 7

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Sunny
Wind: 3 – 9 knots NE, switching to SE in afternoon
Air Temperature: Low 7°C, Hight 11°C
Ocean Temperature: 9°C

The morning was spent preparing the Marine Science Centre, and tidying around the island, to get ready for visiting students that are coming to Race Rocks this week.

Chunk, the large male elephant seal, is still camped out on the grass below the helicopter pad.

I left the reserve in the afternoon to attend One World, the annual show of dance, music and stories put on by Pearson students. I returned to Race Rocks with a visitor. The boat ride was spectacular as the sunset cast a rainbow of colours over the Juan de Fuca Strait.

Two eco tour boats were seen in the ecological reserve today.

Thank you to Travis, today’s Race Rocks visitor, for the photos.

March 6 – Bright Sun, Bright Moon

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Mostly sunny
Wind: 3 – 11 knots NE
Air Temperature: High 10°C, Low 7°C
Ocean Temperature: 8.8°C

Last night was a full moon. Tonight’s moonrise happened at 19:25. It’s a waning gibbous moon, but it’s still as bright as last night.

The gulls seem to be getting more territorial by the day. I witnessed many gulls attacking each other throughout the day. One gull grabbed onto another’s wing and wouldn’t let go for a minute. Maybe the other gull got too close to a nesting site that was already claimed.

Chunk, the male elephant seal, spent another day in the same spot below the helicopter pad. The female elephant seal splashed around the jetty beach for most of the day.

One eco tour boat visited the reserve today.

March 2 – Shift Change

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Sunny
Wind 5-10 knots S to SW
Low 5oC
High 9oC

Two whale watching boats were seen in the ecological reserve.

Today was the shift change that saw Alex depart after being on for three months and Virginie for a month. It was a calm and glorious day to ferry the supplies and people back and forth to Race Rocks. Thank you Alex for all the great work you have done and the great shape you have left the place. I will be here until the end of March.

Sun and Calm Seas

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The wind blew from the north between 13-15 knots, until 10:00 this morning.  Then the wind shifted towards to northeast and calmed down to between 2-9 knots.  The sea was very calm, with no swells or whitecaps.  The barometer rose from 1020 hPa to 1024 hPa. The temperature increased slowly throughout the day from 1-4oC.

There were no boats seen in the reserve today.

If solar panels could be happy, they would have been happy today.  The sun shone brightly, juicing up the photovoltaic cells.  It wasn’t enough to melt all of the snow and ice, which remains in patches around the islands.  Some of the plants have begun to wilt from the prolonged cold weather.

I made a trip into Pedder Bay this afternoon.  Having been solo for the past two weeks at Race Rocks, it was great to catch up with some students and staff at Pearson.  I also dropped off garbage and picked up gas.  The northern half of Pedder Bay was frozen over with ice that was 2-3cm thick.  It made boat travel tricky.  Luckily there was a lane of broken ice just wide enough for the Boston Whaler to travel from the Pearson dock to the Pedder Bay Marina, where the gas was filled.  Unlike driving a car on ice, a boat stops when you hit ice, so it’s much easier to handle.  On the return trip to Race Rocks, I saw a large group of surf scoters between the mouth of the Pedder Bay and Race Rocks.

Cold, Sea Lion Brands and Beautiful Sunset

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The wind blew from the northeast, between 15 and 25 knots.  The barometer rose in the morning from 1024 hPa and then dropped to 1020 hPa.  The visibility was unlimited, with great views of Mt. Baker and many other wonders of the Salish Sea.  The temperature reached a high of 2oC as I am writing this at 21:00.

The dive boat from Ogden Point visited at 11:00.  The group was diving around Middle Rock.

I was going to leave on the Race Rocks boat this morning for a short trip into Pedder Bay to drop off garbage and pick up gas.  A lot of garbage is being swept onto the shores of the ecological reserve.  I thought I had a good window to get away from the jetty. Although, the northeasterly swell started to pick up just as I was putting the boat in the water.  The waves were too high as they rolled into the jetty, so I changed my plans and raised the boat back into the boat house.

Two branded sea lions were spotted today.  See the photos and captions below for 359Y and 975Y.  In November there were 20 different brands spotted around Race Rocks. Many of those california and steller sea lions had never been spotted before at Race Rocks.

I collected depth soundings from all the tanks around campus for the month end report. 475L of diesel was used over the past month to power the generator and heat the houses. Last year in November, 737L of diesel was used.  The reduction of diesel use by a third  this year has come from increased power output from the solar array as well as the wood stove, which was installed last winter in the Ecoguardian’s House.  There are lots more changes being made to transition to more sustainable power sources.  Stay tuned to this blog to read about them as they are introduced.

The Barometer Begins to Dip

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The wind blew between 8 and 18 knots from the northeast throughout the day, less strong in the afternoon.  The day began with occasional whitecaps and a small swell from the northeast, calming down in the late morning. The barometer dropped from 1030 to 1023 hPa, ushering away the high pressure system that has been around for the past week.

There were no boats seen in the reserve today.

At 13:00, a group of humpback whales were surfacing about one kilometre to the northeast of the reserve, with no whale watching boats in sight.

The usual daily tasks were performed: salinity test, running the generator, collecting wood, cleaning the solar panels and general maintenance.

The Sun is Shining

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The wind dissipated over night. After 8:00am, the wind was calm, only blowing 3 to 5 knots from the southwest. The barometer rose to a high of 1030 hPa at noon, then slowly fell to about 1027 hPa. The temperature reached a high of 12.6oC

There were five visitors that came from Pearson College, on the boat Second Nature. Courtney brought two folks from Cullen Water to install the repaired desalinator pump. Tristan and Robin, volunteers from Wales, helped carry the many boxes that contain the new composting toilets. Each house will have the toilets installed soon.

There were two whale watching boats in the reserve this afternoon. Four halibut fishing boats were spotted to the west of the reserve for most of the afternoon. Many large boats passed within a few kilometres of the southern boundary of the reserve, including a submarine, tankers and HMCS Edmonton.

The harbour seals were difficult to spot for the census yesterday. With the sun and warm weather today, they were hauled out on the rocks to catch some rays. 32 were seen today, compared with only 7 yesterday.

Three branded sea lions were seen on South Seal Rocks, just south of the engine room. I have let Pat Gearin at NOAA know about the sightings and he will let me know where else they have been.

There are updates about the two branded sea lions spotted yesterday.

Pat Gearin wrote to me with the details about the Steller that was branded 966R as a pup at Rogue Reef, Oregon in July 2011.  It is a male and so far we have 9 resights from this individual, all from BC.  In 2011, he was sighted at Pachena Point once, and in 2012 he was sighted at Carmanah 8 times.

Matthew Tennis wrote that U596 was branded on August 15, 2014 in Astoria. At that time he weighed ~193 kg. He was seen in Astoria for a few days following the branding and again in the middle of October. This is the first resight for this animal outside of Astoria. They have high site fidelity and being a relatively young animal, it is very possible he will be seen at Race Rocks for years to come.

Maintenance tasks were performed today: moving propane tanks, pressure washing the algae and bird poop off the exterior of the houses, dismantling the old toilets, picking up garbage that has washed ashore and running generator and new and improved desalinator.