July 6, 2019 (part 2) Lesley's Ka'ena Update

Another early start !

Today it was because of the 4th of July 10 miles KPt run .

After checking in with the organization committee, I went back to look for RL20 "Kalua" D60 - today is also the last day I'm county his "age". He is 2 months old, off on his own expanding his horizons and trying to make friends with anything that moves !!

The race started before I found him again. Just after the runners went by I saw a big submarine, sorry I mean a BIG seal swim by. Thru the glare I was able to see the CC scars on his back: R405 "Templo". He swam up the coast, had a brief interaction with RL20 "Kalua" and went on his way.

Why "Templo" because on the first day I met him, as I was doing my reports Tracy told me that he could be documented Temp 10 for a while (aka 10 bleach) then when I looked at my notes (and my handwriting...) it looked like Templo - that's my story and I'll stick to it.

Marilyn & Diane joined me to do our Saturday monitoring & outreach - just as we were closing the gate behind us we heard the RUN organization team calling me. They were pointing to the little cove in front of the PkgLot saying baby seal. The three of us reacted with a OH NO !!!

Well it wasn't the baby but RK88 "Puna". He spent a couple of hours there and swam off just before we came back because someone walked by him and he got spooked. I was told it WASN'T intentional.

In the NARS just as we got to the top of the hill we saw a seal at the end of the Runway. It was RO40 "Ka'ena"  then something in the water behind him that turned out to be RR70 "RIP"

In the Main Pool, much to our surprise because there's barely any water in it, lay R330 "Squinty" tossing and turning scratching his back.

RR70 "RIP" hauled out on the outer reefs of the Main Pool and although I was sure it was him I wanted to get his tag (the chip I was looking at was the small piece on the outside, on the inside you can see part of an "R"). Finally after over 1/2 hour in scorching sun, he did a butterfly with his back flippers showing off his R76 tag.

On our way back out we checked one more time on RL20 "Kalua" he was sleeping among his rocks.  More tomorrow