10/3/2014 DB's Dailies: Duke,Aukai,Kainoa&Kaiwi@RI, Kea@SB, Haupu@Nimitz Cove, Rocky@Kaimana

On my 1st look at Rabbit Island at 0655 I found Duke (RA12) snoozin’ in the Morning Glory at 1BS, and Aukai (RL12) fronting 2BS.

 At 0805 Kainoa (RN04) hauled out to join Aukai.

 At 0812 a 100% molted Kaiwi (RK96) hauled out to join Duke at 1BS. When I got back at 1223 both Kaiwi and Kainoa were gone. Duke had relocated and was now along side Aukai at 2BS.

At 1256 Kainoa would haul out to 1BS. Everyone was still there at end of day.

 At 0741 Team Billand reported Haupu (RB24) at Nimitz Cove.

 Dana checked in at 0834 with the report of Rocky (RH58) at Kaimana Beach. Apparently she had been in and out through the day.

At 1730 Ocean Safety called to advise that she was back at Kaimana. Dana & the Hotline were notified.

 At 1646 Gayle called with the report of Kea (RN46) just hauling out to the outfall at the east end of Sandy Beach. When I arrived at 1654 I found Kea snuggled into his favorite Naupaka, funky old coat and all. I cordoned him off, and he remains.

 The sad news came to me with a call from Dana at 1136, advising that T21M had been found, dead, on Molokai today. Though there is no further information as of this writing as to cause, old age would definitely be high on the list. Data shows that he was first seen by NOAA personnel on Laysan, in 1987. He was already an adult at that time, making him at least 32 now. He was one of the males translocated from Laysan in 1994, and was taken to Molokai. He was first seen by NOAA personnel, on Oahu, in Ewa Beach, on March 4/6&25-2004. In looking at my data, I was surprised to see that my memory of our first meeting was at Hanauma Bay, for a two day stay on 11-18/19-2004, but to my surprise I found that we had actually met several months earlier when he galumphed into my life at the east end of Sandy Beach (Buster owns the property nowadays), on March 28, 2004, just a few after his Ewa Beach sighting. Since those days he has been everywhere, and been seen my many of you. I’m sure you all have your first meeting stories just like me. I will miss him , of course, but I’m so happy that he managed to make it back home to Molokai.  DB thank you for sharing T21 story... Again it's always sad to see one of our beloved seals go.... especially one that has a lot of history, but at the same time we should ALL celebrate the fact he lived the life he was suppose to live... if only each of them could live the 30+ years!  I would love to hear more about any one's experiences or stories about T21... please feel free to share <3  

Duke and Aukai

 Kainoa 

 Kaiwi and Duke

 Kea.... love this picture... looks like he's hiding in the naupaka watching everyone on the beach 

 T21 looking pretty darn cute back in 2010

 Haupu at Nimitz 

 

 fat and happy