"Sammy" the Monk

It was a windy, cloudy day in Oahu, so what to do?  Mommy and Daddy were gone for the morning so Tutu and I were in charge.  We went for a long walk, had some play time at a park, and then walked by the canal leading into Pearl Harbor.  The wind was blowing the waves into the sea wall so we were keeping our distance when Grandson says he saw something... a Seal.  I didn't even go look because sometimes his imagination is as big as he is, and whoever sees a Seal in the Canal in Pearl Harbor?  But his persistence made us go back and look and sure enough, there was a Monk Seal.

Monk Seals are endangered, indigenous to Hawaii and I have never seen one in our many visits to Hawaii.  But this one was close!  He was playing with his food... a beautiful yellow fish that had met his match in the much bigger and faster Seal.

There was much squealing and excitement... from the kids and us, not the Seal, as he played around for several minutes releasing and recapturing his lunch.

If I didn't know better I would have said he was hamming it up for us as he poked his head up through the water and then dove down after his yellow friend.

Mack said he saw some red on his back flippers and when I got the pictures on the computer I saw the red too.  It was a tag with the number N37 on it.  I found a website where you can register your sighting of Monk seals so I did just that with the picture of the flipper number on it. 

If you are related to N37 please let me know so we can try to get you together.  I know in the grand scheme of things a Seal sighting isn't that big a deal but that it happened when we had the kids with us, was spotted by them, and I had cameras along made it pretty special for the photographer in me.

When we got home we decided that he needed a name so we named him "Sammy the Seal."  We thought it a fine name for such a beautiful critter.  He could also be called "Sammy the Monk" in honor of the kind of Seal he is, not his religion.

Of course the way he was hamming it up for us I guess "Sammy" might really be "Samantha."

What do you think?  Does this look like a face only a Mother could love of a male Seal or is "Samantha" really trying to charm us with her smile?

A quick wave from "his/her" front flipper and she turned and headed toward the deep water of the canal.

What a fun experience to share with the Grand kids and how special that Mack persisted in our coming back to look into the canal.

If we hadn't, we would have never met "Sammy/Samantha the Monk."
Update: The Monk Seal web site wrote: "Thank you for the photos and monk seal report.  It's great that you were able to get a photo of the tag.  The tag on the seal indicates that this is a young seal born earlier this year.  Her ID is RN36 (flipper tags N36 and N37), but volunteers have nicknamed her U'ilani.  We have been getting reports of her in Pearl Harbor lately.  Not the place I would pick to hang out, but looks like she is finding plenty of food.  Best regards, Tracy."