Today is the day that we brought aboard our new passengers, or stowaways as some folks are calling them. We were gambling that we would be able to get back out and find the seals all in one day to bring to the ship. We felt it was better letting them swim freely while we processed their blood work instead of setting up a pen on the beach for them. We started searching for the little guys at about 730 and our gamble paid off.
Almost immediately we found two of our seals and by the time we had dropped them off at the ship and returned to Tern Island, Derrick, Monica, Mark and Shawn had found another two. After a couple of more hours all the seals were on board and in their cages. There was a lot of excitement on the ship for the new members and everyone came out to watch the seals being brought on board. The seals calm down quickly once they were put in their cages and lounged under the misters that kept them cool in the heat. Immediately after bringing them on board we began a 24 hour watch to monitor their health and safety. So far everything is going very well and we expect to have the seals dropped off around noon tomorrow at their new home.Thanks to the crew and science staff that helped with the watches and respected all the quarantine and disturbance restrictions put in place for these pups. We will update soon once we get the seals off the Sette and into the water at Nihoa.
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