09/25/2021 Saturday (part 2) Lesley's Ka'ena Update

 Marilyn and I had a great start on our monitoring today. While I was waiting for her, I went down to the beach to do a first check. Thru the heavy ehukai I saw a way to long seal further down the beach. As soon as Marilyn arrived, we headed that way. A great surprise awaited us: RN58 Luana and KG54 Huaka'i were sleeping side by side. You'll have to be patient and in a couple of days we'll have more information about our special visitor from Kure, I looked it up and it's over 1300 miles !! I'm not sharing more info not to be a spoiler. Both females spent the day there. On my last check on them in the afternoon I saw them entering the water and swimming away playing in the waves. What a treat it has been.

Marilyn and I head to the point with a very good excuse for our delay.

Little did we know we had more surprises ahead of us.

RN04 Kainoa was sleeping on a beach. At first, I thought it was Squinty because he also has a small light patch on his chest, then Marilyn saw his N05 tag from her side. Kainoa who's mom is RB12 Sadie b.2007, is the grandson of RS00/1AO Ewa Girl. Ewa Girl has/had (??) the record of coming all the way from Midway/NWHI to Big Island. She chose Oahu to live and gave birth to several pups

RL98 Lina spent the day sleeping beside a rock. It was great to see her after being MIA for several days. She's definitely over the whole molting process.

Next surprise was spotting RH48 Lei Ola among some boulders. Interesting fact is her H48 tag instead of white ink on the letters has black ink or something dark covered the white. That small patch of color of her fur didn't blend in the picture although she was well tugged away. The perks of knowing the area quite well

RW02 PVKauai was sleeping away on a small beach

RO40 Ka'ena was sleeping against some reefs in a very odd position. He looked like a walrus. Once again, we were reminded that seals and us don't seem to have the same notion of comfort.

Last was RL74 Kami sleeping bellie up in the shallow waters of a pool. Also, nice to see her after she's being MIA for a couple of days. She still has the fishing hook on the side of her mouth. Hikers have been great reporting her, it's weird to tell them she's doing great and that the hook is not life threatening and will come off by itself or with human intervention once she hauls out in a better location.

This was definitely a very interesting and rewarding week in the seal world out her at Ka'ena.

More soon - Be Safe