Monk Seal

I finished a dive at Pahoehoe and a kid ran up to me asking, "Did you see the seal?" 

"There was a seal?" I asked, "Are you sure?" 

Talking to others on the beach I soon found out that a Hawaiian Monk Seal had beached itself just a minute or so before I did. It looked around, than slipped back into the sea. 

I couldn't believe it. I have been looking for monk seals for a decade and never seen one above or below the water. The Hawaiian Monk Seal is a critically endangered species and the only seal that lives in the Hawaiian Islands. The total population is estimated to be around 1,100 of which maybe 150 inhabit the waters of the main Hawaiian Islands. Of these 150, less than 10 live in the waters around the Big Island (Kauai has the most). 

I was bummed I missed the opportunity, but the next day my luck changed. Again, while exiting a dive, some locals recognized me as the guy who missed the seal and told me the seal was down at Magic Sands, a nearby beach. I drove back to our condo and picked up Shelley and Cayman and we all got to see the beautiful seal. By the evening the seal was gone. Maybe we'll be lucky enough to see it again this trip.