March 23 – Ships and Sea Lions

Overcast and light rain, sun breaks in the evening
Wind: NE 3-14 knots, switching to W 5-11 in the evening
Air Temperature: Low 7.2°C, High 9.4°C
Ocean Temperature: 8.8°C

Today was filled with the usual chores of cleaning rust of things, collecting wood, stacking firewood, running the generator, creating fresh water with the desalinator, measuring the salinity and temperature of the ocean water and looking out for the species of the ecological reserve.

This afternoon, a large aircraft carrier passed within 4km of the ecological reserve. The USS John C Stennis is a nuclear powered super carrier, the largest type of aircraft carrier, measuring 333mx77m and weighing over 100,000 tonnes.

See the photos below of the ships that passed to the south of Race Rocks, close to where the sea lions swim, hunt and haul out.

Upon looking at the photo of the aircraft carrier, I noticed a sea lion in the foreground that is branded 26Y. This steller sea lion was born at Rogue Reef, Oregon in 2002.