So, it’s been a few days since I last posted. This is partly because our internet connection was fairly sketchy during all of the really high winds, and partly because the last couple of days have been so busy I haven’t had any time! Yesterday and today, I started working around 7:00 am, and didn’t get back to the house for anything except lunch until around 6:30 at night. Crazy, but it makes the time fly! I can’t believe I’m already into my third week of life here.
Speaking of third week of life, every two weeks, on Saturdays, we’re supposed to have a boat arrive at the island, bringing people back from breaks on the mainland, as well as our food resupply. Weather prevented the boat from coming on Saturday, but the wind finally settled down today, so the boat came. On boat day, everyone goes about their usual activities for as long as possible, but when the boat is about an hour away, we all gather at the house to get everything ready. (Surprisingly enough, Boat Day is the only day we all wear radios with us on our duties, so we can all be recalled to the house when the boat is close. I guess I figured I would be wearing a radio more often, but nope!)
Cart on the Cart Path
There is a LOT of stuff that has to be moved around on boat day–all of our trash and recycling, as well as the luggage of whoever is leaving the island, has to be taken down to the landing, and all of the food resupply has to come back up to the house. In this regard, we are fortunate enough to still have the cart path, used since the lighthouse keepers’ time, and cart. The cart path goes straight from the landing to the house, and ends there. In addition to the cart, we also have a “Dumper Jet” now (I have NO idea why it’s called that) to help carry extra stuff. In this picture, you can see the cart, loaded with our empty action packers, as well as those filled with trash and recycle. Farther back on the path is the Dumper Jet.
Today, I drove the cart down to the landing, a trickier procedure than it may sound. The cart is heavy and sort of hard to stop once it gets going. In addition, the gull chicks here have started to reach a stage that we call “runners,” meaning they’re big enough to get up and run around in response to a perceived threat. Because of this, we have to be extra careful walking around, since they can run into the open and get eaten, or onto the cart path, and get squashed. On top of it all, the adult gulls are as vicious as ever, and my jacket is starting to…well…smell pretty bad.
Once the boat arrives, we have to use the crane to send our little dinghy out.
The Crane
I’ve put up a picture of the crane before, but here’s what it looks like from on the island. Cranes, of which there are two (one at East Landing and one at North Landing) on the island, are really the only way for stuff/people to get on or off the Farallones. A crane system like this one has been in place since at least the 1870’s, though this particular crane is slightly newer.
It usually takes four or fives trips out and back in the dinghy to get all of the people and stuff shuffled into the correct places, be it heading back to the mainland or staying here. In addition, boat skippers who resupply us are allowed on to the island to tour it, and most of them do, since stepping on to the Farallones is a rare opportunity that usually requires a permit.
The Crane Controls
Everyone has different jobs on Boat Day, to help it run more smoothly. My job today was crane operator. As you can see in the picture, there are only five buttons that one even need worry about in order to operate the crane, so it’s not too hard, but I felt very official nonetheless. As crane operator, I got to yell a lot, letting people know constantly where the crane was moving to/from, and what I planned to do with it next.
It was a lot of fun!
Today, Pete, Gerry, and Claudia left the island, and Caitlin and Hannah joined us. Claudia left for good, but Pete is only on break and will be back in two weeks. Gerry comes back every so often in his capacity as Refuge Manager, and will probably be back this September. Caitlin and Hannah are returning from their break, so they pretty much know the ropes around here already.
The Crew from my First Two Weeks: Jordan, Me, Pete, Claudia, Gerry, Russ, and Annie
Before everyone left, we took the pretty traditional picture of the whole group (for the last two weeks anyway) in front of the Farallon National Refuge sign. It has been a great two weeks, and I will miss Claudia, even though I knew her for only a short time.
The food resupply was much needed, and today was great. For lunch, we ate ALL the blackberries and raspberries that were sent to us, a pretty hefty quantity of grapes, and almost a whole loaf of french bread (used for sandwiches). It’s funny how much you start to miss certain things, but don’t realize it until they’re sitting right in front of you again. Our produce had been starting to run dangerously low, but I never felt desperate or anything like that. There is QUITE a bit of food out here, stored in the pantry, so even though we might run out of fruits/veggies, we’ll never actually run out of food entirely.
Luckily, today wasn’t a very busy day as far as my schedule, which is good, because a boat landing can be pretty disruptive. Because of the landing, though, i had to spent almost my whole day out finishing up even my small amount of work. Everyone’s getting to sleep early tonight, because in two nights, we will start mistnetting rhinocerous auklets, which we will do for four nights in a row!
To end, I saw Molly, the Brant Goose, again, and got to take a picture!
Molly, and a Gull
Molly has quite a history out here. She and her flock of Brant’s Geese appeared here sometime around 1993-1994. While her (or his??) whole flock was slowly picked off, she survived, and now hobbles around the island with somewhat of a limp. Apparently she will sometimes disappear for months at a time, and will then reappear. Either she’s very good at hiding in one of the restricted areas of the island, or she actually returns to closer to the mainland periodically, only to come back here eventually. Who knows where she goes! It’s a mystery. She is starting to look pretty haggard and old now, which is understandable, but is still a fun bird to watch every time I do see her.
Well, that’s all for now!
Thanks to everyone who wrote me letters/sent me stuff! I will hopefully have a chance to write back soon.
Best,
Eleanor