Weather and Sea Conditions

The day started with a 15 – 20 knot east wind that switched to southeast and fell off, rising again late morning. Morning sea conditions were moderately calm and rippled to the east with a light chop out in the strait. The afternoon was calm, sunny and warm and the wind shifted to west in the early evening. As expected the UV was moderate at 5 and sunlight powered the solar panels. The barometric pressure continued the slow drop started Tuesday evening and reached 1010hPa by 18:30. The storm warning has been upgraded by forecasters to a gale warning and easterly winds of 10 to 20 knots are expected to drop to light late this evening then rise to westerly 15 to 25 late overnight. Westerly winds are expected increase to 30 to 40 knots near noon Friday dropping back to westerly 15 to 25 Friday evening. Friday is expected to be mainly sunny.

Vessel Observations

Two whale-watching vessels were observed working in the protected area today. They both behaved themselves, at least when I was looking. No other vessels were seen in the reserve.

Maintenance

There were no visitors today and chores were mainly routine.

Ecological

Today was census day and these are the results.