Chapter IX: One Perfect Day at Midway

This blog was written by Colleen and Jenny, peripheral members of the monk seal family, kinda like Cousin It but less hairy. (Note from Charles: but they are as short and mumble incoherently about putting throttle on the situation).

We rose early and made ourselves conspicuous on the deck so that our fearless leaders would have no choice but to take us along on their day’s adventure. We boarded the small boat with coxswain Chad, mate Max, Charles and Jason and set out to perform monk seal surveys. Upon arriving at Eastern Island, we were greeted by a curious, untagged weaner, swimming toward the boat.

We split up with team JJ (Jason and Jenny) headed in one direction and team CC (Charles and Colleen) headed in the other. Monk seal surveying is not a simple walk on the beach. You have to think like a detective…and like the paparazzi. We scanned the beach for signs of a seal, like a trail in the sand heading up into the bushes or a big lump in the veg line. Once a seal was sighted, we went into stealth mode, creeping along the edge of a bush and keeping as low to the ground as possible while trying to avoid the monstrous spiders (500 lbs seals are no match for Jason and Charles, but spider webs pose a real threat). Our mission: to identify, assess and photograph the seal without being noticed.

Did I mention the treasure hunt? “Treasure” means different things to different people. For scientists, it’s satellite tags and monk seal poop. And so the day began. Team JJ was slow but thorough. They only made it across a fraction of the island, but they identified 3 males from Kure, found 3 poop samples, and collected a piece of molted skin. Team CC was much more ambitious, covering ¾ of the island and sighting 3 seals, but they scored no scat (“Chuck the poop guy,” not living up to his self-appointed title.)

After lunch, a bunch of folks from the ship rendezvoused at North Beach for a refreshing dip, but there was much of the island still to be explored: the doctor’s cemetery, mall, and three story ceramic albatross. Engineers James and Garry headed off to shoot pool, but Jenny and Colleen could not resist the amazing photo op below. Now, we’re not going to comment on anyone’s billiardesque abilities, but let’s just say after two games in as many hours, it ended in a draw. (A deciding match would’ve been too painful!)

The place to see sharks is just below the ship pier where big fish congregate amongst the concrete pillars. Colleen and Jenny dared each other to swim to the end of the pier hoping and fearing to see the huge tiger shark rumored to patrol the waters. It was very dark and spooky. Colleen spotted a shark deep below the layer of uluas, while Jenny made sure that Colleen was between her and the shark.

Speaking of sharks, that night was the first ever World Championship Pearl and Hermes Transit Poker Tournament. Stakes were high, as the winner would walk away with a coveted glass float. The finalists were Chuck the poop guy, the Riddler (CO), Chad the chip shuffling, Vegas-trained, seal wrangler and the uninitiated pollywog of the group Stud Poke (that’s poe kay as in delicious Hawaiian sashimi) who brought nothing but her intimidating stealy glare to the table. In the end after seven hours of blinding, bluffing, washing and cutting, Chad would reign victorious.