MonkSealMania.blogspot.com: 2/18/2018 Monk Seal Dailies:

Sunday, February 18, 2018

2/18/2018 Monk Seal Dailies:

Today's dailies are brought to you by Team Billand, Gayle and Justin & Christine. Thank you all for being out there considering the weather conditions today.

Justin and Christine Toombs hiked out to Ka'ena Point today from the Waianae side. At the end of runway reef they spotted R330 Squinty, ID'd by the elongated white spot near the center of his ventral side and lack of any flipper tags or other visible bleach marks. In the main pool was another large seal. Initially they did not see any flipper tags or identifying marks on the face and back and unable to get a good look at the right side to determine if it was Ka'ena.

Gayle spotted one Rabbit Island critter and called it a day. Rains were heavy and it was cold.

Team Billand got to west side beach and found a seal on shore resting, the seal was ID'd as Benny RE74. As they were taking the ID photos they noticed a mesh bag with a bungi cord by his belly. The second thing they notices was a lay net on shore to the right of him in a black tube with gray duct tape around the tube. No one was claiming the net, there were lots of people and campers. They spent much time educating tourist, shared binoculars and explained why the seal was there and needed space. Team Billand called the hotline and explained the situation with the net, and the crowds without any zone set up. A volunteer arrived and Team Billand filled him in on the situation.

Next stop they spotted an animal doing 5 minute dives off the shore at Campbells. They were able to ID RIP RR70.

Team Billand went to a Leeward Beach and found Kekoa RK72 in the same spot as the last two day. There are no signs of injuries, and the day was very cloudy and cold so perhaps staying in one place is best. While watching over him Barbara noticed another seal and Kalani RN14 was well hidden in the rocks.

Team Billand then went to another beach on the west side, the skies were getting darker and thunder was loud and the heavens opened up just as they found two seals. They quickly took some ID shot and got back to the car, went back to take a few more but it was getting too slippery and muddy. Time to call it a day. BUT, they did ID RW02 PvKauai, and RL42.

r330 Squinty