MonkSealMania.blogspot.com: RL68 Molokai

Monday, February 21, 2022

02/21/2022 Monday's Dailies

Todays dailies are brought to you by Marilyn, posse pal Justin T., Team T&D and Team R&B💕

Marilyn viewed Rabbit Island and there were two seals on island today. Both seals were uncooperative in that they spent most of their time hidden behind or in the waterfront rocks near the 3BS. Although they were near each other, Marilyn did not see any interaction between them.

Unknown/Unknown 1 was seen after it did a flipper flex. It had not been for the flex Marilyn may have missed it. Seal appears to be subadult size, yellow belly with some green, not sure about gender or tags.

A short distance away was Unknown/Unknown 2: probably juvenile size with a light belly, (possibly male) and unsure about tags.

Posse Pal Justin found two seals on the east side this morning. What makes his find super cool is they are brother and sister. RK24 Kaiwi's 2018 pup identified by his flipper tag. His little sister RM26 Nohea, Kaiwi's 2020 pup identified by her M26/M27 tags. They were reported to the hotline. Justin took the time to zoom in on both siblings and both show no signs of hooks/lines or injury.

Team T&D are on Molokai for some R&R and to visit friends. Once they arrived and got settled they checked the beach. Lucky them they found RL68. I look forward to the rest of their visit and updates.

Team R&B made their first stop looking for seals. They spotted a big seal with a cc scar on right side

swimming by. There were so many snorkelers and divers in the water they lost it. They could not get a positive ID. They also saw a whale, that was whitish which may have been whale lice. It was 8 am and the seal passed the area several times.

Next they headed to check out one of the busy beaches. Initially they didn't see any seals, and there was a woman sitting on shore. Then the fun began, a seal came in right to shore and thankfully the woman backed out. They got the signs ready to put up a safe area, but there are always people who have to walk right in front as the seal is hauling out. The seal was ID'd as RG28 Lefty who was very vocal on shore and finally settled. They straightened out crooked signs and spent time educating people.

Next seal hauling in was RN14 Kalani, RG28 made sure he didn't land near him and was vocal about it. RN14 was smart and hauled up on the rocks.

Then there was another seal that came in fast, it was none other than RH32 Kaale looking for a spot to haul out. Once again RG28 was very vocal not wanting him near him. RH32 didn't challenge him and left. Everyone settled in and Team R&B went to look for other seals.

At another west side location they spotted a seal on the rocks. Its not a normal spot for the seals to hanf out so they went to check it out. There was the little dude RL08. He actually found himself a good spot, well hidden. Continuing on they found Pe'ekai RP84 snoozing to the right of seal inlet. He was alone and resting peacefully. Then they spot another seal who was RW02 PvKauai. He was harder to see and ID but thankfully he gave a good flipper flex.

Next stop at the bay they didn't see anything. Then just moving to the right they spotted something. So they went to investigate and there was Nalu boy R3CX. He was snoozing in a small water hole. Its hard to believe a seal his size can fit into this little water hole

Investigating further they spot a pair of flippers sticking out of the rocks. Thank goodness for those flippers, there was RL20 Kalua. He moved up higher with a wave hitting him and his tags were visible.

On their last stop for the day they found RP30 Puka. He was alone snoozing on the rocks. He didn't have any new markers and was doing just fine. They did not stay at the site to keep his hide away unseen.

Rabbit Island

RK24 brother

RM26 sister

From Molokai RL68

Unknown Adult swim by

Lefty RG28

RN14 Kalani

RH32 Kaale

RL08

Pe'ekai RP84

he's filling out - little chubbo

RW02

R3CX

RL20

RP30 Puka

Monday, March 1, 2021

03/01/2021 Monday Monk Seal Dailies

Today's dailies are brought to you by Team T&D, Team R&B and email yesterday from Justin!

In yesterday's news department an email from old pal Justin T. brought news from his hike out to Ka'ena point on Sunday. He saw four seal between 2:30 and 5:30 pm. It wasn't easy to get IDs as the seals were not cooperating. There were two seals in Ka'ena's pool. One had an old CC scar and one with two tags that he couldn't read. There was one smaller size with 2 tags and a very fresh cookie cutter wound. He believed this to be RL74 Kami. Then lastly there was a critter at 10 minute beach. There were no flipper tags visible or obvious bleach marks or scars, just some light color variation on her back left side. Justin thinks this may be RL98 Lina

Team T&D still on their Molokai adventure. They hiked La'au again today and saw three seals. Their

first find was RL68, then RL90. The big excitement for them today was finding R6FI, this was their first time seeing him but found out he was tagged on Oahu and then made his way to Moloka'i. I know Team R&B was thrilled to hear of his sighting and when they met him here on Oahu they called him Noa. Thank you Team T&D for sharing your Molokai adventure with us.

Team R&B was at the outfall at 7 am this morning. The Akule boat was out there and so were the seals. They spotted Kaale RH32, Kekoa RK72, RN14 Kalani and R407 Kawika all in the net at one time or another. They called the hotline to report. Team R&B saw a NOAA's Maddie arrive so they filled her in on what was going. Volunteer Melina arrived and they were also surprised to see someone from the DLNR.

All the proper authorities were there to deal with what could be a bad situation. Team R&B could only standby and hope for the best, while trying not to have a heart-attack.

After several hours at the outfall they headed over to another west side location. When they arrived they saw three seals snuggled together on high mid rocks. RW02 PvKauai, RH76 Kala and R3CX Nalu.

What a nerve racking day.!

Seal at 10 minute beach