I was down at Punalu’u Black Sand Beach Park with my brother, and we were watching a turtle resting on the beach, in an area enclosed by a low rock wall. I told him that most turtles hauled out here, but they sometimes came ashore on other parts of the beach, and I pointed to a dark lump, surrounded by cones, some distance away.
Looking at it, I thought, that’s a big turtle! So I zoomed in with my camera and saw it was actually a monk seal. We hot-footed around and I took these photos, which I later sent in to the Marine Mammal Center, which keeps track of monk seals.
They responded to let me know the seal was ‘Imikai, a daughter of RB00, who is also the mother of the last seal I saw (here). ‘Imikai was born on Lānaʻi in 2018 and has had two pups of her own. Apparently, she came to the Big Island in 2023 and has been seen mostly around the southern parts of the island.
Graham's Island 
How great to see the monk seal and to have it identified. Once they start moulting, do they remain resting on the beach until the moult is complete?
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They do mostly stay ashore while molting. It’s an irritating process for them though so they like a cooling dip in a tide pool where one’s available.
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That is looking really content on the beach. I guess the two different are seal and mother tags?
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I’m not sure about the tags. They usually get put on when the seal is quite young so it’s not likely to indicate a mother. The ones I’ve seen are consecutive numbers like 00 and 01. This is the first I’ve seen that’s 10 and 100. I know the tag color represents the island the seal is from.
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Thanks. Probably 2 different research teams tags
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I don’t think so. I think they put both tags in at the same time and record which number is in which flipper. Having two tags doubles the likelihood of being able to see one of them, as I can attest to in my experience! Also, tags can get broken so if one is lost, the other is still available. The seal I used to see all the time at Upolu had lost both his numbers, but still had a remnant of a tag in one flipper, which served as a pretty good ID.
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I thought of that as soon as I sent the last comment
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So…is she alive?
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Yes she is. Resting seals can look like lumps on the shore, but if they get an itch or the tide comes in they’ll do what’s necessary to deal with things!
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How wonderful to see a monk seal! I love that beach.
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It’s a great beach and a great little park. I was so surprised to see the seal there though.
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