Barb Hikes to Ka'ena Point

Robert and I done our usual hunting of seals in the SWQ and to our disappointment for the 3rd day in a row.........Found NOTHING. Got a call from David Schofield that there was a report of a hooked monk seal at Kaena Pt. He wanted to know if we could go check on the seal today or tomorrow. We decided to go TODAY!
Rob couldnt make it out with me so I invited my son Jason, who was very busy with moving stuff into storage in Pauoa. But, he said he'd go out to Kaena Pt.
Our Journey began at 1:43pm and it was very very HOT today. My son insisted we take an umbrella and I said , nah, we don't need it. Boy I was relieved he did take it with us as it was a very hot day. Folks coming back from Kaena Pt. kept commenting how lucky we were to have an umbrella, all of these folks were like tomatos returning and very thirsty looking.
We reached Kaena Pt. within an hour and there was the hooked seal 040/041 snoozing on the rock, very comfortably with the one inch circular hook in it's right cheek corner. The monophilament dangling maybe 12 inches. He seemed ok. The hook was a smaller one than the one Kerby had in his mouth couple of weeks ago. This poor seal, Kaena is the second hooking out there.
After iding Kaena we searched for more seals and my son spotted R018 glistening in the hot sun at the runway...in a very deep snooze. He looked so handsome.
The third seal spotted was T15M who was just floating on the surface, breathing loudly. Sharkbite was visited by some folks who went and sat like two to three feet from him, waving their hands to make the seal react. That he did, by some loud snorts and a leap. I whislted to the people and motioned for them to step away, they did. Thank you very much. T15M continued to float on the surface of the tidal pool and you could see his scars on its belly showing through the water. I was thrilled my son Jason got to meet this awesome seal that survived a horrific shark attack.
We also saw the handsome Albatrosses with chicks, making their funny dances to each other. And we watched the whales breaching in the air, making such huge splashes. I was proud to be in the company of my son Jason, I was so happy we had found Kaena and got some good hook shots for NOAA.
On our way back, I viewed the pics and they were great and very clear. Couldn't wait to see them on the computer. We bid the creatures we viewed fairwell and thanked Kaena Pt for a great day.
Now comes the awful part...when Rob downloaded my pics, for some stupid reason, all the seal shots were gone. Good thing my son had his pictures on his camera. For me, I was a disappointed wreck. Well, life is full of surprises and disappointments. I'll end here as I have no more words to tell ya how I really feel. B
Hey Donna, here is a little story for ya if you like. Here are a few pics too!