Morning Weather: winds West 6kts, seas Rppl, Fog all around
Chris off station between 1100-1730hrs
marine traffic: eco-tour boats: 3
marina mammal count: west rock: 4 sealions , 3 seals, middle rocks: 142 sealions, 52 seals, north rock: 42 seals, Great Race Rocks (including east islets): 350 sealions, 65 seals
solar panels cleaned.
Erik relieved at 1100hrs
vessel traffic:
dive boats: 2
eco-tours boats: 22
Recreational boats: 3
used new fire pump to fill seawater cistern; ran pump 7 hours
the new digital thermometer and salinity meter is making data collection much faster and simpler.
Morning Wx: wind – N 7kts, sky – Ovrcst
Chris Blondeau on watch Sept 1/13 1400hrs Max Brown off watch 1500hrs
morning weather: wind W 15kts sea 1ft Chop Sky clear
Out of curiosity I have been looking at the solar panels output throughout the day. With a clear sky at 1340hrs we were producing 2410 Watts and adding charge to the batteries after accounting for the island load.
1440hrs Float plane low overflight. Likely Fisheries observers; I thought I recognized the plane from past years.
Started work on cleaning and lubrication of the boat cradle wheels.
winds up in the evening to 40kts
Wednesday June 5/13
Day two: Fog and moderate winds early in the morning. A good part of the morning was spent cleaning the Solar panels on the roof of the Energy building of all the accumulated bird guano. I took note of the power output pre-cleaning : 650W; it jumped to 980W after being cleaned.
One pleasure boat in the Reserve this morning 0945hrs
We were visited by BC Parks’ new Area Supervisor to familiarise herself with the site and the Race Rocks File; and to meet the crew.
Chris Blondeau on watch at Race Rocks @ 1600hrs
It has been a while since I have been here for more than a few hours. I am looking forward to reconnecting with the place and its inhabitants.
Mike will be off for the rest of the week, so I will have time to get the full experience
It was both fun and a bit daunting to pull the boat out, run the generator, do the seawater sampling (9 deg C) after so long. It all came back though; just like riding a bike as they say.
One whale watching vessel at approx. 1730hrs
One overflight approx. 2030hrs