Thursday, January 30

The Scouting Team...

For the past week Schatzie and I have been on the scouting team with mom. We've been on the lookout for a monk seal known as R018.  He's in the process of molting and everyday mom goes out to find him.  This morning mom found him high up in the vegetation and straddled among the rocks. Now don't worry, we are not allowed off leash during our scouting and we are very careful as to not disturb any seals. We just locate them and then mom rushes us home for our breakfast!!  A car ride, a walk and breakfast now that's what a call a good start to the day.
Here we are in the Seal Mobile!!!  BOL
 
Molting is a very stressful time for the seals. They just feel yucky and don't wanna do much.
 
See how far he was away from the water and he looks just like one of the rocks.
 
 A little more old skin to fall off and then he'll be just like new!!
Notice the flip flops...those aren't mom's or R018's, someone just left them at the beach. Besides everyone knows seals don't wear flip flops!!
 

 Later this afternoon he went down to the waterline for a quick cool down and then
played a game of peek.
 
 Pretending he's a snowplow!!!
(He's using the sand as a loofah to get rid of that old dead skin)
 
 at the end of the day R018 had made his way back up into the vegetation,
safe from the crashing waves.
 
Stay safe R018, stay safe!!
 
 
gracie :)

Saturday, January 25

Everything was spinning....

This morning on our walk we saw a monk seal, lots of birds, whales and a large pod of spinner dolphins. I was very focused on their activity. Happy Saturday!!

Friday, January 17

Don't worry mom....

We took mom to the beach this morning for our walk.
 Yesterday was a frustrating day, so she needed to clear her head and get a grip on her emotions. 
a beautiful sunrise...
oops, just mom should clean our nose art off the window!!
 
 

all the sun and blue skies made her feel better.
 
 
As mom watched for whales....
 
we had her back....
cuz that's how we roll--total unconditional LOVE!!

Friday, January 10

Part 2....the Blue Shark...

 If you missed the first portion of the Blue Shark story you can click HERE

It was zero dark thirty when I arrived at the site where the shark was last seen alive. The sunrise was beautiful that morning and I could only hope that the shark might still be alive. Unfortunately she had passed. The waves lapped over her, it was a sad sight to see such a magnificent animal lay lifeless on the rocks.
 
 
We had to tie her to a rock to prevent her from washing out to sea until 
the marine biologist arrived to determine the next course of action.  
 
 She had to be removed from the area due to the proximity of a heavily
 used walk/bike path. The odor of a decomposing shark
 would have been less than desirable in the coming weeks.

 By the time we were ready to bring her up the embankment a number
of onlookers had congregated to watch and even help.

 The cause of her death...she was incidentally caught in a longliner fishing line and pulled up rapidly by a hydraulic reel to the surface causing her to have an embolism. If you'd  like to read the local newspaper article describing the situation you can click HERE   It does a far better job of explaining the ordeal.
I  also encourage you to Google "longliner fishing" You will be surprised by how many deaths this type of fishing causes and not to just marine life.  :(
 
 It took a number of volunteers to lift her into the
 back of a pickup. She has since been buried.
 
 This shot shows her sharp teeth. I was privileged to be able to touch her.
Her beautiful skin was much like a very fine piece of sand paper.
That indigo blue color will be something I shall never forget.
 
 It really was a shame she had to experience such a violent and unnecessary death.
 
As I was  leaving the area I captured one of
the local fisherman doing his thing...
 life goes on.

Thursday, January 9

It ends with a Big Blue Shark...

Yesterday was a day of adventure.
It began with a call to a nearby cove where I would find RV18 snoozing in the rocks. After taking a number of photos I discovered he had what appeared to be a 'hook" on his back. Photos were taken and submitted to the science folks and they determined it wasn't a hook, but some marine debris that was just "stuck" on his back. Phew...what a relief. He later moved to the outer rocks where he snoozed the rest of the day.

 
Below was the area of concern...do you see the "C" looking object??
The stuff at the top of the back is the remnants of a cell phone tag. No need to worry it's just the glue pad used to hold the tag in place. He will lose it over time. I was concerned about the "C"

 Later, I decided to take  a nice hike up the coconut coast in search of monk seal K13. She's our pregnant girl and has been off the radar for a few days.  Unfortunately no seals, but there were turtles and whales splashing in the water while tourists zoomed by me and them on their bikes. As I hiked along I thought to myself; I know they're on vacation, but they really should stop and smell the roses!! They were missing the true beauty of this island, all because they were going too fast.




 
 future sea glass
 
 As I was headed back to my car I was pleased to see one of those zooming
 tourists take a break and soak up the beauty.
 
It was almost dark when R and I got a call concerning a stranded shark.  We went to the site and found a magnificent pelagic blue shark. It was a amazing indigo blue color weighing approximately 200 lbs. and 8-10 foot long....darkness fell and then


come back tomorrow when I tell you the rest of the story!! 

Friday, January 3

Goals...focus on photography


One of my goals for 2014 is to become a better photographer. I love taking photos and capturing images that are unique.  I am really just a novice and quite frankly some of my shots are just pure luck. I know just enough to be dangerous!!  I have made it a goal in 2014 to actually learn the "how to" of my big girl camera.  This is going to be a learning experience, so I hope you will bare with me as I post some of my experiments.

Info on the above shot. This is a photo taken in full color at 4p.m. of the iconic pier on Hanalei Bay. My goal with this photo was trying new sunset settings, hence the lack of color except for the sun flare.   What do you like, dislike...what would make it better?  I wanna hear what you think.

Oh, this is going to be fun!!


Val :)

Wednesday, January 1

Whatever happened....

to just using those party horns and noise makers????
Schatzie and I spent most of New Years Eve hiding under covers, snuggling on mom' slap and cowering under poppy's chair. It was a night of pure hell for us girlz. It was close to 1:00 before my heart quit pounding and I feel asleep next to mom. I'm exhausted. We're going to watch some football with poppy and do some excessive napping. 
 How was your New Years Eve? 

Gracie