September 7, 2025 Yesterday's News

Marilyn was out at Ka'ena Point on Saturday.  She sent this report from her amazing day: 

 

I did a Ka'ena Point trip with a friend yesterday. It was sunny with light winds and hot.

We saw seven HMS during the trek.

At the beach in front of Camp Erdman were two seals:

RN58 Luana: adult female, new coat, medium gray female belly, scar on upper chest, two tags that I could not read.

Nearby was what I think was RG40 Holokai: adult size, very old coat probably ready to molt, male belly, a chipped tag and nb on rear flipper.

At the Ponds we saw all three weaners. Initially we saw RU40 and RU56 playing in the water. Then RU40 Wai hauled out in a small cove and played with his head buried in the sand and slapping the sand. Then he moved up a way and went into a snooze mood. He was ID'd by weaner size, shape and coloration and U41 tag.

RU56 Lehua swam around for a while and then disappeared. She was ID'd by her weaner size, shape and coloration, and her applied N56 bleach. When we hiked out later, RU56 had hauled out with RU40, but

we did go close because we did not to disclose their location to people nearby.

We then found RU04 Reef in another location where she was mostly hidden. She was ID'd by her weaner size and shape, her U04 tag and the small nb on her neck. When we hiked out later, she had relocated but was still at the Ponds.

At Ka'ena Point we found R420 Kaipo: sub-adult to adult size, tan male belly with a fair amount of green, a partial C-scar mid-ventral, no tags.

Then we saw the five Bristle-thighed Curlew who have been seen recently in the "runway" area.

At 11:07 am, RG28 Lefty hauled out in a channel on the Kauai side of the main pool. He has an old coat with a lots of green, particularly around his eyes, at least one tag, small pit scars on the dorsal and a nb on his LFF. He hauled out further and went into snooze mode.