September 7, 2025 Yesterday's News

Marilyn was out at Ka'ena Point on Saturday.  She sent this report from her amazing day: 

 

I did a Ka'ena Point trip with a friend yesterday. It was sunny with light winds and hot.

We saw seven HMS during the trek.

At the beach in front of Camp Erdman were two seals:

RN58 Luana: adult female, new coat, medium gray female belly, scar on upper chest, two tags that I could not read.

Nearby was what I think was RG40 Holokai: adult size, very old coat probably ready to molt, male belly, a chipped tag and nb on rear flipper.

At the Ponds we saw all three weaners. Initially we saw RU40 and RU56 playing in the water. Then RU40 Wai hauled out in a small cove and played with his head buried in the sand and slapping the sand. Then he moved up a way and went into a snooze mood. He was ID'd by weaner size, shape and coloration and U41 tag.

RU56 Lehua swam around for a while and then disappeared. She was ID'd by her weaner size, shape and coloration, and her applied N56 bleach. When we hiked out later, RU56 had hauled out with RU40, but

we did go close because we did not to disclose their location to people nearby.

We then found RU04 Reef in another location where she was mostly hidden. She was ID'd by her weaner size and shape, her U04 tag and the small nb on her neck. When we hiked out later, she had relocated but was still at the Ponds.

At Ka'ena Point we found R420 Kaipo: sub-adult to adult size, tan male belly with a fair amount of green, a partial C-scar mid-ventral, no tags.

Then we saw the five Bristle-thighed Curlew who have been seen recently in the "runway" area.

At 11:07 am, RG28 Lefty hauled out in a channel on the Kauai side of the main pool. He has an old coat with a lots of green, particularly around his eyes, at least one tag, small pit scars on the dorsal and a nb on his LFF. He hauled out further and went into snooze mode.

September 3, 2025 Wednesday's Dailies

Todays dailies are brought to you by Marilyn, Tammy and Team R&B💕

Marilyn viewed Rabbit Island today from 10:20 am to 1:22 pm and there were five seals seals seen during that time.

Initially on the berm in the middle of LPB was RT19. (Kala's 2024 pup) He is juvenile size, older coat, male belly and two red tags. He is looking healthy.

On the 1BS side of LPB was an adult female with an old coat: dark

brown with some green, female belly and two red tags. This seal is believed to be RJ30 Wailea, who just pupped on Mokolua Nui on July 18, 2025. 

At 12:36 pm, the two recent weaners hauled out together between the 3BS and SRI. Both looking chubby weaner size and shape with two red tags and light tan male bellies. One of them is RU48 and the other RU64.  

Near the SRI channel was a small seal that is labeled as RU38: older weaner size and shape, two red tags, tannish yellow female belly.

Tammy was out at Ka'ena Point with Lesley and Michael. Their first find was RG40 Holokai on hidden beach. There are lots of wedge tailed shearwater chicks and their growing, making it easier to find.  

The big surprise was seeing RU40 out at the point. He is the last of the Ka'ena weaners to be seen at the point. Seems all three weaners have grown up enough to make it to the point at sometime.  They watched as he foraged in a tide pool and at one point he got himself a sea cucumber. 

Down the shoreline was his cousin RU56 resting on the coral. She has an applied bleach N56 which makes it easy to ID. A big adult seal came up and pestered her. It was RW02 PvKauai, who shouldn't be pestering this weaner girl.  After a few nudges he left.

Lastly, there have been four bristle thighed curlew at the point and great for them to watch.

Team R&B first find was at Pokai. There was an adult male without tags. They were able to ID RG32 alone.  A second seal to the right was RH76 Kala. She was alone on the rocks near the homeless camp. Team R&B didn't stay so they wouldn't draw attention to her.

They saw R3CX Nalu with RH48 Lei Ola foraging by rest camp. There were sharks in the area feeding, the seals went to the far right.

Heading over to tracks, they were surprised to see R604 still there. She was alone other than the woman walking by her with her dog.

Their next stop was at plains where they spotted two seals way up on shore. Thankfully they were roped off. There was the RL12 Aukai and RN14 Kalani. It appears that RL12 might be starting her molt with an opening around her neck area.

Much to their surprise, Team R&B found two more seals by the cabins. There was KG89 with R407/ It appears that KG89 has lost her hook. Team R&B did not see it at all today.

Their last find of the day was a seal they spotted from afar near the lifeguard stand. They headed over and there was the lovely RL70 Leina. She has gained a lot of weight since they last saw her.  She is looking good and being watched over by being near the lifeguards.

Rabbit Island

RG40

RU40

RU56

RW02 & RU56

RH76

RG32

RH48 & R3CX

R604

RL12 & RN14

KG89 

KG89 & R407

RL70

August 7, 2025 Thursday's

Todays dailies are brought to you by Marilyn, Tammy and Team R&B💕

Marilyn viewed Rabbit Island from 10:29 am to 12:18 pm and there were four seals on island during that time. A NOAA Team went out to the island today to tag the recent weaners, PO11 and PO12. Unfortunately we don't know which is which and we don't have the official tag numbers yet.

At the left side of LPB were the two recent weaners. labeled RW1 and RW2. 

RW1 galumphed away onto the rock flats on the Lanikai side of LPB after he was tagged.

RW2 stayed on LPB after he was tagged and kept looking back at the NOAA team. The NOAA team "thinks" they got a bleach on RW2's rear end. We just hope the bleach took and it will help Marilyn to tell them apart.

TempN25 was on the 1BS side of LPB and was ID'd by his sub-adult size, male belly and applied N25 bleached on his mid dorsal and rump. TempN25 did not seem at all bothered by the presence of the NOAA team.

Near the 3BS was RQ44 Mahina (RL12 Aukai's 2022 pup): sub-adult size, older coat, gray green female

belly and 3 red tags. (She was given a temp tag before she was weaned and then given he Q44/Q45 permanent tags. Marilyn wonders if she's on island to molt.

Marilyn also noted that on Tuesday 8/5 a much larger contingent of Sooty Terns landed on Rabbit Island and now covering many of the slopes. The first contingent landed on 7/30, which is the earliest they have ever arrived.

Tammy headed out to the point with Lesley today. Their first find

were the cousins RU56 and RU40. RU40 was behind the rock and even though they were near each other there wasn't an interaction seen today.

Next was RU04 playing with a stick that was as long as she is. She seemed quite content.

Wedgie chicks are everywhere and the kolea are back. 

Out at the point the only seal they saw was RG32 and he was leaving just as they arrived.

Team R&B didn't find any seals hauled out today. They did see a seal foraging at pokai. They were able to ID RM31 Kai doing 6 minute dives. Thankfully his bleach number

was visible. They were hoping he would eventually land, but he left the area and they didn't see him again.

While looking out for seals, a woman came up to them to say "look at all the dolphins". That's when they realized there were sooooo may all leaving heading in the Nanakuli direction. They were able to ID one they call Lumpfin, one with a tag and a mom with her calf. 

Lastly Team R&B acknowledged a lifeguard named Marvin. They

knew him and he was very active in helping protect the seals. He passed away and there was a recent memorial for him. Today they noticed a large poster of him by the office at white plains.  Marvin was around back in the days when DB would head out to the west side. He was a good man and I am sure will be missed by many, especially his loved ones.

Rabbit Island

RU56

RU40

RU04

RG32

RM31

dolphins