DB Post Friday October 31st

U/U@RI, Ewa Girl@CIP, U/U@LL, 10-31-08

The SE quadrant was, once again , a total bust , until I got a look at Rabbit Island from the Makapuu Overview (MO) at 0704. I found an adult sized animal with an old coat , in the shallows off the right end of the beach. The animal was doing head bobs and after a a couple of minutes of looking and then rolling in the shallows, disappeared from view and I did not see it again. Based on size , color and behavior I'd put my dollar on M38, but of course I can not prove that. Thru multiple looks at Rabbit Island through the day, I saw no other animals.

I decided to do a SW quadrant run, and personally checked the beaches from Ewa Beach to the Nimitz Beach jetty, and found nobody.

The Billands called at around 1300 to report that they were with Ewa Girl at the Palm Grove at Campbell Industrial Park (CIP). Since they had her covered I continued on to Ewa Beach, and then returned to civilization in the SE quadrant and and empty RI at 1437.

While out west, I'd gotten a call from Brasileira Posse Person Lesley, reporting from Lanai Lookout (LL) at 1343, that divers had told her they had seen an animal first on the right and then on the left side of the Lanai Lookout point. When I got to LL at 1512 I lucked out and found the same 4 divers just exiting the water . After interviewing the 4, I came away with the info that they had seen an adult sized, male animal, with no visible tags, and a new coat. They could provide no other information. My guess would be that we are talking R301 here, but of course we will never know. When the had exiting the water just moments before the animal had swum off in a Hanauma Bay direction. It will be interesting to see who pops up at Hanauma Bay, or Spitting Cave in the morning. Aloha, DB

Trick or Treat !

BOO !!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

KC at Turtle Bay 10/29

Aloha Good People!
I can't express how happy it makes me that people are sharing information through this blog! So another wonderful seal carer Matt sent me this email!! ~donna~

Aloha.. With the surf rising yesterday - she looks pretty tired. First time I have noticed her come so close to the cabanas here at Turtle Bay and not even move from the rocks.. Came up this morning Wed. 10-29-08..
I believe she is just fine - bit sleepy..

I took few photos (see attachments)

DB Post Thursday October 30th

R301@RI, 10-30-08
The recent down turn in action continued today. R301 had Rabbit Island all to himself today. I watched him haul out to the far left end at 0700 this morning and he remained at that location all day.

There were some other tidbits of news today. Donna got photos of what proved to be Lona on Lanai. They were taken on 10-6-08. I think she will be posting them to the blog tonight.

Tracy called at 1320 to advise that she gotten call on RO30 (Rosie), who was just beyond the end of the road at Mokuleia today.

Tracy also passed on that KC had been at Turtle Bay yesterday. Aloha, DB

Lona on Lanai

Aloha Good People!
Another wonderful connection made through our blog... a Lanai resident spotted this lovely animal (confirmed to be Lorna) on October 6th. Here is the message I received... I just want to say THANK YOU!!! and please feel free to forward and additional information. The more information we can share as volunteers, the better chance we have of helping these beautiful creatures. ~donna~
Found your blog while looking for the NOAA email address to report sightings. Really nice. We spotted one on Lanai (Shipwreck Beach) on 10/6/08 at about 10 AM. I am attaching the pics we took. Mahalo, Bill

DB Post Wednesday October 29th

R301&M38@RI, 10-29-08
I found R301 at 3BS on Rabbit Island at 0943. At 1100 M38 joined him. Other than a couple of over the shoulder "oh it's you" looks, R301 registered no interest at all. M38 reentered the water and hauled out again further to the right. I had to leave at 1200 for an afternoon commitment, and I left both of them in snooze mode.

I am aware of no other calls for today. Aloha, DB

DB Post Tuesday October 28th

Buster,R301&M38@Rabbit Island, 10-28-08
At 0912 , R301 hauled out the point at the left end. He was the animal that was run off by the surfer, but he hauled out again just a few minutes later down at the 3rd Blue Sign (3BS) where he spent the rest of the day.

To my surprise, M38 hauled out to join R301 at 1035. There was immediate posturing and vocalizing and after only a minute , M38 was back in the water. He hauled out again a few minutes later at the far right end of the beach. The rising tide got him off that perch in the afternoon, and he hauled out again at the left end at 1BS, where he spent the rest of the day.

Though science will never allow such and assumption, my Monachus gene tells me that M38 was very probably yesterday's unknown swimmer. (ain't hindsight great!).

The Billand were skunked in the SW quadrant today. There were no other calls from posse or pros. Aloha, DB

DB Post Monday October 27th

U/U Swimmer@RI , Kermit&Irma@Kalaeloa, 10-27-08
Well.... it wasn't a total bust, as the last couple of days have been. Today , when I set up the scope at the Makapuu Overview , at 0655 I found a lone animal of med/lg size, swimming in the shallows at Rabbit Island . I found it at mid island 2BS (2nd Blue Sign). It was swimmer toward the left end of the island and was vocalizing along the way . It made frequent stops and partial haul outs to do a few head bobs and vocalize, then continued on. By behavior I'd say this is a male, looking for others. The animal continued around the point at the left end, and I lost it from the MO vantage point. I relocated to the pier but alas, found nothing. I did two sessions at the pier today, and never found a critter.


The Billands checked in at 1040 with a Kermit report at "the last bench" at Kalaeloa Campgrounds, and then again at 1054 with the report of Irma down the beach aways at "the wind sock" at Kalaeloa Beach. Aloha, DB

A Billand Update

Hi,
Today we found Kermit and Irma...Apart. I took the Kalaeloa area and found Kermit and Robert found Irma at Windsock. Both are doing fine apart on this find. But...still in the general area. Now, I would like to share this lovely poem written by Marie Destifanes. She sent it to me today and I want you to read it. Very Nice. And .... she never met Hoku, she just heard our story of him. She knew how much we all loved him. It touched my heart. Marie is a sweet person and we grew to love her. She really knows seals. She loved KP2.

God bless and do take care....life is short and ..... it can change in a moment. Stay healthy. Seal ya around girl, BB

Including one shot of KP2 and Marie's coconut...he loves it alot. PLays with it all the time. Cute huh?

A Poem for Hoku

Aloha Good People,

The following is a poem written for our beloved Hoku. The volunteer who wrote this is from the Marine Mammal Center in California. Marie was here assisting NOAA in another project. A couple of us got to meet Marie. Barb and Rob spent time telling her all about Hoku and as a result she wrote this beautiful poem. ENJOY! ~donna~

Hi, I never met HOKU, but I thought i'd write this for him...

A silent loving wind

stirs again and again

clouds move aside

clouds move aside

angels come and gather round

quietly without a sound

clouds move aside

clouds move aside

through the window arrives god's radiant light

angels gently life our hoku so cherished and take flight

clouds move aside

clouds move aside

on the wings of angels hoku soars so high

on the wings of angels to the edge of the ocean sky

clouds move aside

clouds move aside

inside the gates of heaven the angels set hoku down

inside the gates of heaven the eternal life he has found

eternal life he has found.

god bless hoku

DB Post Sunday October 26th

Irma@KCG, 10-26-08
It was yet another perfect Monk Seal day. Cool, rainy, and overcast. Short, fat , bald guys however, didn't enjoy the conditions all that much. It was the 2nd consecutive "Nobody-Nowhere" day, in the SE quadrant. Rabbit Island, as well as all other locations in the neighborhood were certified Monk Seal free. I have no clue if it's time for the Great Molokai, Monk Seal Mele, or if they all went to Vegas, but they ain't around here !

Once again Team Billand saved the day with a call at 1000, reporting my friend Irma at 0938, at Kalaeloa Campground (Last Bench). She departed at 1503. Dat was dat ! Aloha, DB

A Day with Barb and Rob...

Good Evening Blog Lady,

Today was sweet. We managed to take a walk at White Plains and to our delight, found Irma N3. She was between the cottages snoozing nicely all alone. She looked very relaxed. We didn't put out signs as no one was around at 9:23am. After seeing Irma was good, we decided to check the other areas. I walked all the way to Kalaeloa beach and near the bench area lay Kermit. He too was in snooze zone and didn't need signs. We left kermit to check a few other places when we got a call from Tracy that someone ran off Irma at White PLains. We immediately drove to the other place Irma and Kermit hang out and that was Windsock. Nope, she wasn't there.

Base Police came by to report the seal being run off and we told them we were on our way to locate her. They followed us and we all went to Kalaeloa Camp Grounds. We found Kermit and base police wanted to put out the signs. We appreciated their help. It was cute to see them in full uniform, placing the signs around Kermit. Kermit mean while kept an eye on them and felt no threat and went back to sleep. Rob and I would like to thank the two caring Base Police Officers...Alton Mamiya and Phillip Lam. It's folks like them who keeps a monk seals life SAFE!!! Thanks Alton and Phillip!!!! You da bestest!!!

We also did the KP2 rounds even if we weren't on duty to say goodbye to Marie. She will leave tomorrow morning and we just wanted to go bid farewell. Tell her we will miss her alot. She was a great person and we sure appreciated her friendship and her wonderful ways with KP2. I know he wil miss her alot too. When we meet a person such as Marie, you tell them how special they are and so we visited her one last time and to our surprise, DB was there too for a shift. And we also got to meet the new girl...AUBREY. She seems sweet also and we showed her how to get to Safeway for her food stuffs. Just thought I would share the great day. Hugs, BB

DB Post Saturday October 25th

It was one of those rare days with no critters at RI, or anywhere else out my way.

Team Billand reported Irma at White Plains, and Kermit at Kalaeloa Campgrounds. Unfortunately, Irma was run off early. Aloha, DB


(This is by far the shortest report I ever received from DB)

Good People with Big Hearts

Aloha Good People!
Well I wanted to take this opportunity to show you some of the faces behind the names.... but also above and beyond that these people are true die hard Hawaiian Monk Seal care takers. I am both honored and proud to call them my friends and have an opportunity to work with them!

Below is a picture of Rob & Barb Billand, DB Dunlap and Marie from the Marine Mammal Center in California.
And here we have a couple of Honolulu's finest.... going above and beyond.... helping out with Kermit!

An Update from a Molokai Volunteer

vacationing monk seal
Aloha, Look who is vacationing on Molokai---M38. Found him snoozin with a "Molokai Kid" on wednesday. All is well here, Now where is M&M ??? Val :)

DB Post Friday October 24th

R301@RI, 10-24-08
Despite repeated checks of the SE quadrant, the only critter in my life today, was R301 , at Rabbit Island. He had dropped out of sight for the last 6 days, but had the place all to himself today. Aloha, DB

Right Spot&RB08@RI, Ewa Girl@CIP, 10-23-08
I found Right Spot waiting for me at Rabbit Island again this morning. She would later be joined by RB08, who was 50 ft away.

A call from Ewa Beach posse member , Mary Jay , advised that one of her neighbors had told her there was an animal on the beach. She found only a fresh wallow. Armed with only that, and no other facts at all, I decided to make a SW quadrant run. I was thinking Irma. I later learned from DH posse member Colleen that Irma was no longer at last night's DH location. Between the Billands and myself, The SW quadrant from Ewa Beach to Campbell Industrial Park was thoroughly checked. There were no Irma or Kermit sightings. At 1150 I found Ewa Girl at the Palm Grove at Campbell Industrial Park, approximately 1/2 mile east of Barber's Point Beach Park. She had also been documented there on Saturday during the count.

I got back to the pier at 1350 and found that RB08 had joined the cast. There was no action and at all, and I called it a day at 1500. Aloha, DB

DB Post Wednesday October 22nd

Right Spot,Mojo&RB08@RI, Irma@SC, Irma@DH , 10-22-08
Right Spot was once again waiting for me at Rabbit Island. She was joined by Mojo, but she barely acknowledged the boy's presence. RB08 later joined the cast, well away from the others.

I found Irma doing 5 minute dives at SC in the morning. I got a call from Posse members Rachel and Colleen, reporting what would prove to be Irma at the base of the Diamond Head path. Rachel put out signs. Is the girl going back to the SW quadrant ????? Only Irma knows...stay tuned. Aloha, DB

North Shore Update #2

NorthShore Monk Seal Update

Just wanted to let you know that Rosie (RO30) was at Police Beach, Haleiwa yesterday (10/20). And KC (RK28) was in Wailua on Saturday (10/18)!

Aloha, Jen

North Shore News from Jennifer

Aloha,
Rafe spotted R030 in Waialua again this morning around 10:00am. She had left by 12:00 noon when I came by to check on her. ATTENTION ALL MONK SEAL FANATICS!!! Julie, a volunteer in Kauai, has created a beautiful 2009 monk seal calendar. I thought you would want one so I am passing along the info. If you want to tag along with my order just email me at cruisingkismet@msn.com and we can all share the shipping cost. If you would like to order direct her website is: http://www.mymonkseal.com. Aloha,Jen Maldonado

DB Post Tuesday October 21st

Right Spot@RI, 10-21-08
The Tuesday story is short and sweet. Right Spot was waiting for me at 1BS on Rabbit Island this morning. She had the whole place to herself. Her right side posterior natural bleach and her notched RHF were clearly visible. Four of the last five years she has molted at RI. It seems a bit early, but since exact pupping and weaning dates aren't known, it's possible. Only Right Spot knows. She may be hanging out at RI for a while. We shall see. Aloha, DB

DB Post Monday October 20th

Mojo&RB08@RI,Irma@Irma's,Right Spot@SC, U/U WP, 10-20-08
day began at 0605 when I found Irma waiting for me at Irma's, directly down from the Kealahou light in Hawaii Kai. I cordoned her off and continued on . When I got back at 0711, she had departed. I have no clue why. She has been behaving a bit oddly since she got back over to this side, Leaving at 1030 the last two days, and now this. Only Irma knows.

At 0755 I found Mojo and RB08 at the left end of the beach at Rabbit Island. They would move down to cool off at mid day, but I never saw any interaction at all.

At 0837 I found Right Spot at Spitting Cave, doing 7 minute dives.

Tracy called to report that the White Plains lifeguards had cordoned off a animal fronting the cottages . She was going to round up someone to go to ID the animal. I found out too late in the day that no one had been available. It bums me out to not know who it was, but at least it was cordoned off, and my dollar has to go with Kermit

Ka'ena Point with Team Billand and Kerby

Aloha Good People!!
Okay I know we just can't resist these pictures of Kerby... Thank you Rob & Barb for going back out there again.... and there he is was.... maybe this will be his new home.
Pics of Kaena this morning at K. P.
Still in absolute shock that Kerby showed up two days now. If only Benny went back to Rabbit Island to get Kolohe too. Holy cow, wouldn't that be an absolute SHOCK and a MIRACLE. I wish that could be, who knows in seal world. He. he. BB

DB Post Sunday October 19th

Mojo&RB08@RI, Irma@Irma's,Right Spot@SB, Buster@SC, Ka'ena&Kerby@KP, 10-19-08

At 0607 I found Right Spot at Sandy Beach. That came as a surprise. She'd been in the area a while back, but dropped off the radar. Obviously, she's back ! She remained until approximately 1130, departing of her own volition according to a lifeguard. I did not see her again.

At 0717 I found Irma at Irma's, approximately 300 ft east of the Kealahou light, where she was yesterday. She departed at 1045. I did not see her again.

At 0822 I found Buster at SC, for the 2nd consecutive day. He was still doing 7 minute dives , in exactly the same location. I rechecked at 1500, and he was still there.

The Rabbit Island cast was RB08 and Mojo. RB08 was on the beach when I arrived at the pier,at 0926. Mojo hauled out to join her at 1057, and immediately began climbing on and working her toward the water. They entered the water at 1104 and did a swim/play session until 1118 when they hauled out again, with RB08 in the lead. They remained close together, but I observed no interaction.

Barbara Billand called at 0859 from KP (I KNEW she'd go back), to report Ka'ena and Kerby there together. Aloha, DB