The northeast wind blew 25 – 30 knots, all day under mostly clear skies. Most of the day, visibility was excellent with Mount Baker visible to the east and Bahokas Peak to the west. Much closer, the snowy peaks and ridges above the Elwha River were also clear and magnificent. High cloud started forming in the afternoon and sun dogs were visible late in the day. The high cloud eventually thickened and lowered and the sunset was devoid of the usual colour. The barometer dropped slowly all day but remained above 1010 hPa at dark. The forecast calls for more cloud, a 30% chance of showers and lighter east winds.

Four whale watching vessels were observed working in the Protected Area today. The first boat through, looked very small as it clawed its way through the standing waves of Race Passage. I don’t know what chance they would have if anything went wrong in that perilous time and place. All the whale watching vessels went around to see the sea lions on South Rock and one vessel took the passage between Great Race and South Rock. It was good to see S.V. Amatuana out in the Strait with wind in her sails. She stayed well away from the rocks.

A few of the breeding pairs of Glaucous-winged Gulls were observed starting nest building behaviour today and there was more pre-breeding behaviour observed. Oystercatchers also seemed to be staking out territories and spending more time in pairs.

Visitors came today, the first group this month. They arrived in Second Nature skippered by Chris Blondeau. Chris always makes landing look much easier than it is. He brought four Pearson College students to spend the weekend at Race Rocks and six of the Jeane Suavé scholars who have been visiting Pearson College. Chris gave the scholars a tour while the four students settled in. A fifth student came along for the ride and returned to the college with Chris and the scholars

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