10/16/2021 Saturday Monk Seal Dailies

Today's dailies are brought to you by Lesley, Marilyn and Team R&B💕.  Lesley and Marilyn did Ka'ena point today. Lesley's update is part two of the dailies.

After doing Ka'ena Point, Marilyn viewed Rabbit Island from 2:15 to 3:35 and there were two seals on island.  At LPB were U/U; subadult to adult size, old coat, at least one tag on RRF and she never got a glimpse of the belly.  S/A/F; subadult to adult size, cream colored female belly and two tags.

Team R&B got to the bay early and found RL20 snoozing on the rocks. He was alone and has begun his molt! He left for some reason and an hour later he came back, but to a different spot. How lucky they found him so early.

They witnessed two more seals in the water foraging all the way across the bay. One was R3CX Nalu and the other was Lei Ola RH48.  On a later visit there were a lot of paddle boarders following the seals around. Its very frustrating seeing this.

Team R&B spotted a fat green seal on shore from a far. They saw folks by the seal taking photos. Team R&B made their way over to check, the seal was RH32 Ka'ale and he hasn't started his molt yet. A girl approached them, smiling and told them how friendly the seal was. (WHAT?) They told her not to get close to them.  Apparently there was a 2nd seal, there was a wallow and line going to the water. They asked the girl about it and she confirmed a seal had been there but left.

At another location they found a large female. It was RL42 Leia snoozing alone on the rocks.

Team R&B made their way out to Ka'ena West. Their first find was RG28 Lefty, sleeping on the rocks.

He looks like he is 100% molted.  Their next critter was RM31 Kai who was alone sleeping on the rocks. He was resting peacefully.  There was one more seal, RN14 Kalani. He was farther out away from Kai. Kalani was laying on his side, they waited for him to move, but he didn't cooperate. On their way back RN14 had moved and his bleach mark on right side was visible.

They were heading back to the car, but while scanning the rocks saw some hind flippers.  They found cute little RP30 Puka. He was in a really good hiding place and they probably missed him on their way in. A nice way to end their day.

Rabbit Island

RL20 Kalua beginning molt

Lei Ola

R3CX Nalu

Kaale RH32

RL42 Leia

RG28

RM31

RP30