03/13/2022 Sunday Ceremony for Honey Girl and her Pups

Today at Turtle Bay a group gathered to remember Honey Girl and her pups. Dana had possession of the ashes from the her pups and grandchildren.  The turn out was amazing, so many old friends came out today to remember and pay tribute.  

A plaque is now at the Keiki Pool honoring Honey Girl. This to me was so special, so many of us spent hours and years there with her. It will always be her spot, and now it is there in writing. 

We started by returning Ua' Malie and her pup RKD2 ashes to the sea at the

Keiki pool.

Her beloved sister RG03 Ola Loa, brother RHX2 ashes were sent out to sea at the Elbow.  RHX2 was stillborn in 2016 and retrieved by Monk Seal Foundation volunteers and NOAA scientists shortly aftery R5AY gave birth.

Although there is a lot of sadness from the loss, we all shared our memories of the happier times with these animals.  When I looked over this amazing group of people I was honored to be among them. I haven't seen some of these folks for years, and I made sure I gave them lots of hugs.  We are so lucky to have participated in the life of Honey Girl.

05/04/2020 Stay-At-Home (42) Monday Memory of Honey Girl

I first met Honey Girl in March 2015.  I saw a story on the news, a monk seal gave birth and a group was looking for volunteers to help monitor mom and pup.  Dave and I have been seeing seals for years from our Ka’ena Point hikes, but now we could become more involved. I signed us up for the next training class.  A couple of weeks later, on our way to class we stopped by the pup site and watched Honey Girl and Ola Loa.  It was our first mom and pup, we were hooked.  After our classroom training and a few beach trainings we were now Monk Seal Foundation volunteers.  I soon met DB and was truly astonished by how much he knew, but more grateful for how much her shared.  My circle of seal friends soon grew, I continue to learn from them and always grateful to them for answering my many seal questions that I seem to always have.  For me, Honey Girl’s story is more about her impact on my personal life.  Honey Girl was an amazing matriach, I am thankful that I got to meet her, 6 of her kids, and all 5 of her grandkids.  Her contribution to my life is much more than the priveldge of watching her, her offspring, and other seals.  Because of Honey Girl I have met an amazing group of people.  It started out as a group of seal friends and has turned into so much more.  We are not only there for each other for the ups and downs of the seal world, we are there for each other for the ups and downs of life.  Because of Honey Girl I became a volunteer and found my passion for seals.  Because of Honey Girl I have met people who have enriched my life more than they’ll ever know.  Thank you Honey Girl, thank you.      Tammy
Thank you Tammy and Thank you Dave - Team T&D

04/25/2020 Stay-At-Home (33) Thinking About Honey Girl

Aloha Good People

I am still feeling the emotions over this loss and after reading many of the social media post so are many others.  One thing for sure is Honey Girl R5AY touched many people here on Oahu, from professionals, volunteers, neighbors, and the folks at Turtle Bay Resort.  Honey Girl was pretty consistent in hauling out in certain spots on Oahu which made her part of the North Shore neighborhood. Then over the years giving birth, usually on North Shore and many times at Turtle Bay.

I am sure in days to follow there will be many stories, and photos to honor her and many of her off spring.  But tonight I want to give a shout out to a few of the MANY MANY people who watched over her through out the years.  Some of these folks have been around long before there was any organized volunteer group, they did it and continue to do it because, well.... they got really big hearts and some of the best folks I have ever met.

It goes without saying that our beloved DB was very much a part of R5AYs life.... but there were so many more. 
Kathy and Jim Brown were around when Honey Girl gave birth to Penelope back in 2006.  They did such an amazing job even back then documenting details about the size and interactions of mom and pup.  We also have Kathy to thank for developing an educational curriculum that has been used to education so many of Hawaii's children.
John Johnston, Ella & Dave Siroskey, Joanne Tabor, Karen Harris were some of the folks from the early early days looking after her. 
I got involved in 2008 and Honey Girl was my first official pup watch. Oh those days, it was truly grass roots, scrambling to create some level of organized shifts and consistent information. In those days NOAA managed the whole event.  Team Billand, Dana Jones, Lesley McPherson, Karen Banes, Jan Williamson, Liz Weske, Jennifer & Rafe Maldenado, Karen Bryant, Diane Gabriel, Karen Rohter, were some of the folks involved in that seasons pupping events. In 2008 when Honey Girl gave birth at Crawfords beach, KC gave birth about a week later at Mokuleia. 
This made for interesting times, for a bunch of "volunteers" who didn't have anything in common other than watching over these mom and pups. As a result,  a group of us got together and created Oahu's first organized volunteer group by setting up a non-profit.
As the years went on, folks like Karen Turner, Jeannie Martinson, Kelly Girl, Don Porter and so many more got involved when Honey Girl decided to make the Keiki Pool at turtle bay her favorite birthing spot. 
A BIG shout out to the staff, including security at Turtle Bay who were always supportive of the volunteers, as well as keeping an eye out for our girl.

I apologize if I have left anyone out, that is not my intent.... I truly know we were all in it together and we all feel the loss of this amazing female who taught us so much about Hawaiian monk seals, mother nature in the wild, and how precious life is to all critters.

AND last but not least to all the posse that through out the years, had an opportunity to meet her while snoozing on the north shore, or maybe meeting one of her kids.

THANK YOU ALL for the years and genuine caring for each other and our beloved monk seals.

04/24/2020 Stay-At-Home (32) Monk Seal Dailies

Aloha good people,
I hope you are are all staying safe.  I open tonight's blog with great sadness to report the passing of Honey Girl R5AY.  There aren't words to express how many of us are feeling the loss of this beautiful female. Over the next couple of days I'll post more about my and other posse's personal feelings  and experiences with her. For now here are a couple of links about the news coverage, as well as a couple of links about her and her life.  I know there are many of you who are feeling the loss, just know you're not alone.

News of her passing:
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/04/24/breaking-news/popular-hawaiian-monk-seal-honey-girl-found-dead-on-windward-oahu-beach/?fbclid=IwAR3y_6yWilsONju7TIlukBtcJ8RO8q-6sRtbV6uYFLGSJm6BT6I6I48DkEY

https://www.kitv.com/story/42053865/after-20-years-wellknown-hawaiian-monk-seal-found-dead-on-windward-oahu-beach#disqus_thread

R5AY's (Honey Girl) Story
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/r5ay-honey-girls-story-struggle-and-salvation-paradise?fbclid=IwAR1zKJ4aBILAhZLD5JtiwsqRvfXscSGg23VzGswQfsqNB-oVkQy0qNlw2co

Other than this very sad news, in the monk seal community life goes on and there are critters hauling out. Thankfully we have some eagle eye posse that spot them while they are out running their errands.
Yesterday Kolohe RW22 was spotted, and if I do say so myself he's looking quite large.

Her very own book... 

Kolohe RW22

 Kalani RN14

RH32 Ka'ale

 RH92 Nalani 

 RL20 Kalua

02/14/2020 Friday Monk Seal Dailies

Today's dailies are brought to you by Team Billand, posse pal Anissa K. and Lesley. Lesley's update is part two of the dailies.  Also I apologize for missing Barbara's Ka'ale and Buster sightings from yesterday. Her email from some reason did not get through to me, and when she resent it I had already turned in for the evening.  

In yesterday's news Team Billand spotted a seal foraging in the outfall and it wasn't stealing fish, at first.  And then it was stealing as many fish as it could and it was none other than Ka'ale RH32. The fishermen have learned to reel it in, but despite their best efforts he still managed to steal their catch.
Later they headed over to white plains and found Buster boy RV08 on shore with a zone already set up by the life guards.

Posse pal Anissa on her way to sitting with the turtles came across two bathing beauties. So nice to see Honey Girl R5AY and Sadie RB12 hanging out together.
Anissa also included a photo of her favorite honu Keoki, who she spent a double shift with.

Team Billand found Ka'ale hauled out at a location close to the outfall, where he had been a little earlier. He probably filled his belly then hauled out for a long nap.

At 10:30 Team Billand made their way to Paradise Cove and found Benny RE74 in a zone that was made by the folks at the Luau. Actually very nice of them. Team Billand called the hotline to let them know there were a lot of kids out and about on the beach. Even Auntie was out there asking the adults to take care of their kids. Team Billand did their best to educate the folks. 
As Team Billand was leaving a volunteer was parking so they updated her where to find Benny.

Then Team Billand headed over to plains and found Buster RV08. The lifeguards had put up a zone, and once again Team Billand found the beach was very crowded.  They called the hotline to update them of the situation. 

When they got back to the west side they found Kolohe RW22 was to the left on high rocks.
Then there was RL20 Kalua on lower rocks, along with Kekoa RK72.
Lefty RG28 was to the right by seal inlet.

Team Billand's last two seals of the day were on the far left side. When they went to look they saw folks on shore and didn't think there would be any seals, so they were surprised to find two.
They ID'd RG40 Holokai and R3CX Nalu and it looked like they were getting ready to leave.
R3CX entered the water first and Holokai followed. They played in the shallows for a bit and then swam out of sight.

Ka'ale on Thursday 2/13

 Buster RV08 on Thursday 

 Keoki  

 Honey Girl and Sadie

Ka'ale today snoozing away

Benny RE74

 look at all that bling

Buster RV08

 Kolohe

 RL20 Kalua

 Kekoa RK72 

 RG28 LEfty

R3CX Nalu

 Holokai RG40

Nalu and Holokai