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I was on the road at 0614, and after a quicky pass through the SE quadrant I ventured into town and checked Sand Island at 0717. RIP and Ewa Girl were gone, so I picked up the stuff, and returned to civilization, in the burbs. I was back at Makai Pier by 0925, but it would be 1020 before I finally found a critter. I just got the tiniest glimpse of a partially visible animal behind the water front rocks at the right end of the beach. Finally, at 1338 the rising tide force Kolohe up into view. He remained there the rest of the day.
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At 1045 Sam hauled out to his usual spot at 1BS. He too would remain there the rest of the day.
On a pan at 1242 I found the little green dude, Duke on the left end rock flats. He remained there the rest of the day.
Barbara called early to say that her posse member, Mochiko , had reported an animal hauling out just briefly to White Plains, then reentering the water and swimming off to the west. At 0744 Robert reported Benny at Wind Sock, Kalaeloa Beach.
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Meanwhile Barbara and nephew were making the trek to Ka'ena Point. Any of you who have made the trip to the end of the world, know what that takes outta' you. Imagine doing it TWICE !!!!! (They forgot the tripdod and had to go BACK !!). You'd all be standing over my grave if that were me. I don't know if it was worth two trips or not, but they had a heck of a day, bringing back news of T15M, RI37, Kermit, Ka'ena, Kerby, CeeCee & Kiko.
This was D#27 for R5AY & DAUGHTER !!!! ( I think its D#29 pup was born on 6/29 right? ) Yes.... Donna is correct... The office (Thea, Brenda & Tracy) concur that the pup is a female !!!!!!! You folks in the front line trenches need to start putting your head together and come up with a name. ( Just a note, Jim Brown called it very early on, and Mrs. Seal Whisperer also said she thought it was a female.)
CeeCee
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Kiko
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T15M - Sharkbite (he was comparing scars with RI37 )
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RI37 -healed - she still chubby, I assume since she had a still born, she is still packing some of her "Mom" weight.
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8 comments:
Yesterday, what an awesome seal day for myself and my Nephew. That was the most seals seen out at Kaena Pt for me. It was easy finding them, they stood out with the blazing sun. Finding Kermit was a big shock,never found him out there in my 3 years as a volunteer. He went missing from 24th, due to crowds running him off at White Plains...three times. He looked great, peaceful, until R040Kaena came charging in wanting his space to bask. THey had fought for 21 min.It was like fight, rest, fight etc, really awesome to observe. Kermit willing to share the space, Kaena being the bully and took the space. Kermit left, showed up in front of me late afternoon while trying to find my lost tripod. I was so tired, I never saw him until my nephew said, there he is.And the other awesome thing..meeting those two little seals, Kiko and CeeCee. Hey, KK, I did it,met both seals unexpectedly. Adorable. Finding I37..relief to see her scars healed.Kerby and Kaena showed up in the waters off the rocks, playing, Kerby fighting for his spot..he won over Kaena.And to see T15M, a treasure..he is my hero, surviving his shark attacks, years ago. He looked very content on the rocks, snoozing. Sad part of the day, finding four dead birds..two shearwaters, two albatross or some black and white birds. THat was not a good thing..was it a dog, mongoose, cat??? I worry for the birds out there. Losing the tripod, well, what can I say..things happen. Going back, all six seals still there, except Sharkbite. I am forever grateful for finding seven seals, making it back after two treks, and my nephew can have lots to say in his senior project..Life of Monk Seals. In two days he met 11 seals..I feel so proud! I feel so blessed.
Barbara, the two kids are cool, aren't they? I have yet to meet Kermit out there on my Sunday trips, but have read about his visits to the point. I like the fact that more seals are finding their way to KP, but I guess some of the dummy humans are, too.
Anyways, way cool to see all 7 out there... only one you were missing from recent KP seal visitors was M+M and certain she was nearby.
Very nice write-up. Thanks
Keith
KK, when you go out on a Sunday, are there lots of visitors and jerks??? On our visit we had over 50 people, 5 trucks at the Yoks side of Kaena Pt. And we had a fire department chopper along with the cops I think. THey hovered over the guys with 4 x 4's at the Mokuleia side. We saw all the trucks out there. I wished we had found M and M...she is a Hawaiian Princess...the cutest face I've seen. Makaiwi has a pretty face as well.Today my nephew saw another two seals that were new to him..so now he saw 12 seals in three days. NOt bad...lots to write about in his report. Its been fun, exciting showing him what we know and have learned. And thanks for your kind words..........B
Barbara,
We usually start from the Waianae side at between 8:30 and 8:45 AM. That gets us away from the afternoon heat and to the point at around 9:30AM. We stay 1-2 hours, depending on how much activity goes on while we are there. The cell phone crowd starts arriving about the same time we are getting ready to leave. Most of these people are curious about the seals and just want to have a picture with them in the background, ... a few cordial "sir..." or "ma'am..." with a wave of the hand backs them off. I guess we look semi-official with binoculars, hiking shoes and cool sunglasses... so we get a lot of people asking if we are monitoring the seals. Actually, I think Ka'ena, Kerby and CeeCee might know my UH hat... just a guess, but seems like all three of them will swim right to me when we're out at the lower pool checking out the landscape. (within minutes of swimming away from others) I get a kick out of Ka'ena. He'll bark at just about anybody who even looks stupid within 30 ft of his parking place.
We've only gotten visibly angry with one lady out there. It was the day that B16 showed up. This lady was practically standing on her. After a few folks tried to move her away... I finally stood up, walked down to her and gave her an PG-13 rated lecture. "But, I didn't know," she said. "You've just been educated, now back off of the seal!" (biggest moron I've seen out there..and she backed off)
We'll take the Mokuleia side about once every 5-6 weeks and, yes, plenty of 4 x 4's and hooligans. Our prize after hiking that side is Macky's Shrimp truck on the way home.
Your nephew is getting a nice showing for his report. Since last October, we've seen 14 different seals at KP... many multiple times, but... he's nearly seen that in just a couple of days. So nice job, Auntie Barbara.
:-)
Take care,
Keith
KK, THANKS FOR YOUR RESPONSE, I enjoyed reading all of it. You guys are a great team, THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR WORK, YOUR DEDICATION IS COMMENDABLE. I had words with a gentlemen out there, he was a total jerk, who wanted to swim with the seals, said he did it all the time. He just wanted to fight everything I had to say..I was furious, but, walked away with my heart pounding with ANGER! I felt, who would find my dead body..know what I mean??? One threw rocks, I mean big rocks to make Kaena MOVE for a awesome pic. I stood in front of the guy, hoping he'd stop the rock throwing. His group moved up, away from Kaena.I am glad Kaena is one BIG BULLY...he needs to be. Well, last day for my Nephew..I hope he has learned enough, to know, HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO DEFEND OUR HAWAIIAN MONK SEALS, TO respect them and their space, to treasure all his pics, the encounters, the sounds, the incredible LIVES of these MAMMALS, so PRECIOUS TO MAN. Once again, God bless you guys for what you do each week at Kaena Pt...Look forward to your next TREK REPORT...B
Welcome, Barbara... but really thank you. We've applied for our Novice Seal Watcher Certs. I keep telling DB we're a couple of hikers with a camera. Have really only been bringing info back from KP since meeting Marylyn out there one weekend last October.
Since then, we've been trying to read and learn about these guys and have recognized the dozen or so passionate monk seal reporters/advocates/fans. We've, obviously, learned a lot from DB and Tracy Wurth, and Donna's blog is either our direct source of information or we have linked to the various sites she has posted here...
BUT have got to say that Team Billand (whether you knew this or not) taught us a bunch, as well. Your daily dedication to spotting our monk seals and educating people about them is, well... very inspiring. By the way, I'm going to go public and blame you for educating a little girl (5-6 yrs old???) that I met couple of weeks ago. Consider yourselves under citizens' arrest.
:-)
Met this girl the weekend that we spotted 3 at the point and 3 on the hike back to our car. This girl knew of Kermit and Irma. I asked her if she spent some time at White Plains Beach and she smiled with a crisp, “Yes!” She asked me a lot of questions about M+M and Sharkbite. (hopefully, my answers were accurate and think they were) I don’t think she related to the tag ID thing... but names, yes. She also asked if Irma gave birth yet...
So salutes to you and all who have spent their time with outreach initiatives. You know it’s got to be working when the little ones even know these seals by their names.
As for that jerk who likes to swim with the seals.... just an approach I've taken. Knock your socks off, buddy. He's probably the same one who told me a tale about seeing 5 seals at the point because there were 2 tiger sharks right off shore. He was returning as we were hiking out. pfff!!! (there was only Ka'ena and Kerby that day) Considering CeeCee swam from the lower pool all of the way around the rocks to the flats just east of the runway... in less than 4 minutes AND estimated that Ka'ena swam from the south beach to the ledge at the upper pool in 3-4 minutes... I really doubt that this guy could keep up. Next time you see him please tell him he is amazing for us. LOL.
Better get to my breakfast. Hope your day with nephew is as fruitful as the last few.
Take care,
Keith
Welcome, Barbara... but really thank you. We've applied for our Novice Seal Watcher Certs. I keep telling DB we're a couple of hikers with a camera. Have really only been bringing info back from KP since meeting Marylyn out there one weekend last October.
Since then, we've been trying to read and learn about these guys and have recognized the dozen or so passionate monk seal reporters/advocates/fans. We've, obviously, learned a lot from DB and Tracy Wurth, and Donna's blog is either our direct source of information or we have linked to the various sites she has posted here...
BUT have got to say that Team Billand (whether you knew this or not) taught us a bunch, as well. Your daily dedication to spotting our monk seals and educating people about them is, well... very inspiring. By the way, I'm going to go public and blame you for educating a little girl (5-6 yrs old???) that I met couple of weeks ago. Consider yourselves under citizens' arrest.
:-)
Met this girl the weekend that we spotted 3 at the point and 3 on the hike back to our car. This girl knew of Kermit and Irma. I asked her if she spent some time at White Plains Beach and she smiled with a crisp, “Yes!” She asked me a lot of questions about M+M and Sharkbite. (hopefully, my answers were accurate and think they were) I don’t think she related to the tag ID thing... but names, yes. She also asked if Irma gave birth yet...
So salutes to you and all who have spent their time with outreach initiatives. You know it’s got to be working when the little ones even know these seals by their names.
As for that jerk who likes to swim with the seals.... just an approach I've taken. Knock your socks off, buddy. He's probably the same one who told me a tale about seeing 5 seals at the point because there were 2 tiger sharks right off shore. He was returning as we were hiking out. pfff!!! (there was only Ka'ena and Kerby that day) Considering CeeCee swam from the lower pool all of the way around the rocks to the flats just east of the runway... in less than 4 minutes AND estimated that Ka'ena swam from the south beach to the ledge at the upper pool in 3-4 minutes... I really doubt that this guy could keep up. Next time you see him please tell him he is amazing for us. LOL.
Better get to my breakfast. Hope your day with nephew is as fruitful as the last few.
Take care,
Keith
hey, there's an echo in here
:)
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