DB Post Monday 5/4/2009

I must admit that it felt reallly strange to stay in my own backyard today. There were so many drives to the SW quadrant in the dark, that I felt decadent having such a leisurely day. The Billands checked in at 0923 after a thorough SW quadrnt
...... email message ends and second message arrives.....

I don't know what the heck that was............ as I was saying the Billands reported nobody in the SW quadrant on their 0923 check in.

I found nobody on my first pass through the SE quadrant, but a call from Thea at 0809 got things started. She called with the report of a "baby" seal in the waters off of the "Gas Chambers" end (right side) of Sandy Beach. When I arrived at 0810 I could see (just barely) a small animal doing foraging dives about 30 to 50 ft off shore, and moving back and forth along the beach front of Sandy Beach. It was a dark spot, in gray water, on a gray day, with crappy morning lighting. No ID was possible, but I'd put my dollar on Kolohe, based solely on size, and the fact that he wasn't at RI on my first pass, but arrived later in the day.

The rest of my day was spent at Makai Research Pier with the Rabbit Island cast which would prove to be a nicely rotting Benny, approximately 15% molted, and to be surprise M38, whom I hadn't seen in several days. The 1308 arrival of Kolohe completed the RI cast for the day.

I got email today from Mark & Lori Manley, forwarding a shot they had taken during a dive yesterday, somewhere between Rabbit Island and Makapuu. Lo and Behold it turned out to be the Ripster....RIP, my first born, on his birthday. Aloha, DB