Wildlife
This morning’s climb to the panels was punctuated by the joy of catching a humpback’s tail flip out of the corner of my eye. Later in the afternoon, a pod of 40 or so resident orcas passed by the west side of the rocks!
A flock of whale watching and eco-tourism vessels came to share in the wonder. It’s tricky to balance my feelings about this industry; knowing on one hand that the tangible experience of the coast’s wild beauty is becoming accessible to greater numbers, while acknowledging the risks to its inhabitants posed by the constant traffic like collisions and harmful noise levels.

Our California sea lion is still hanging out. Spotted the banded gull who typically hangs out by the energy building, closely supervising the cleaning of the panels.

Facility notes
– Cleaned panels
– Cleaned windows
– Lifted up section of electric fence across walkway

Weather
Sunny, but hazy. A massive bank of wildfire smoke rolled in later in the evening, giving the sunset an otherworldly tint.
Winds mostly westerly, from 11 to 33 knots. Temperature from 10 to 12.5 degrees.

Vessels
Ecotourism: 21
Private: 6
Visitors: Grocery delivery! No one disembarked, but there was a small group of UWC Pearson alumni from about a decade ago aboard.