Chapter Ib: A slight diversion (or...Where the seals aren't...)

The iPhone alarm goes off in the pre-dawn light Wednesday morning. Bags of sampling and survey gear are loaded into the two trucks and we are ready to begin our day. After our mandatory first stop for coffee (scientists are useless without caffeine) we are off to find the elusive RO42.

We knew it would be difficult. She had been seen recently at Ho'okena, Honaunau, and Kealakekua Bay but had gone off the radar for the 2 days prior to our arrival. This is fairly standard for monk seals..once they know we are looking for them they lay low. Monk seals love a good game of hide and seek. So the crew was divided into two teams. The first team would start at the south of RO42's range and work north, the second would work north to south. My team consisted of Nicole D. and Darin P. and we were headed north to south.

I would go through the list of each individual spot we stopped at...they all were lovely places...but each was the same in the fact that RO42 wasn't there and hadn't been seen in days. Luckily our job was made easier by support from DLNR/DOCARE, NPS rangers at Honaunau, and numerous volunteers and concerned citizens. But even with this army of searchers, RO42 was nowhere to be found.

So...let us quickly summarize our search:
Number of miles driven for each team: Approx. 165
Number of beaches searched at least once: 13
Number of people questioned about seal sightings: 42
Number of people that had seen the seal "in the last two days": 39
Number of nude sunbathers spotted: 1
Number of sunburned visitors from far off lands: 81
Best album for fruitless searches for monk seals: Bon Iver
Number of loaves of sweetbread purchased: 7
Number of negative responses towards monk seals: 0
Number of monk seals seen: o
Number of mai tais consumed after failed search (combined): 5
Best meal of the trip: Lobster stuffed ono at Kona Inn

Some images of where monk seals aren't:

Kealakekua (photo by BIVB):














Pebble Beach:














South Point (The most southern point in the USA):














Lava Fields (we were getting desperate):














Needless to say...the search lasted all day. We had decided early on that if we didn't find her before 5PM we would call it a day due to the coming sunset. As is to be expected, at just around 5 PM as we are headed back to our hotel we get the call. RO42 had been found down at Miloli'i, a small village in the south of RO42's range that has welcomed her into their community. She had hauled out on the rocks and was going to sleep. It was too late in the day and too far away to get to in time. Monk seals 1...crack research team 0. We would have to leave the island and RO42 behind...there was another pressing mission that we needed to tend to.

Postscript: I don't want to leave anyone with the impression that our experience was a bad one. We were not able to find RO42, but it is a spectacular place to drive and see and we met a ton of really great people who are very interested in protecting and conserving their/our seals. Also, it was Darin P.'s birthday. I am sure he would have rather been somewhere else celebrating but karma was not going to let him miss out on cake. We arrived at Pebble Beach to search for the seal. Darin went south to look over a hill, Nicole went North to check another bay, and I stayed at the truck cause that is what I am good at. Nicole found the nude sunbather mentioned above. Darin however, found his birthday party. He passed a small gathering on his way up the beach and chatted about the seal. They were having a birthday party for their 7 year old daughter and were interested in hearing about the seal. When they found out it was Darin's b-day they sang to him, gave him cake and offered drinks. Darin being the dedicated monk seal researcher that he is, declined frosty cold beverages and returned to the truck with cake in hand. The moral of this story is: DO NOT STAY AT THE TRUCK.

Stay tuned for Day I on the ship...mostly a haze caused by the motion sickness pills everyone is on.