Tag Archives: On The Coast

Molted monk seal

A newly molted Hawiian monk seal rests in a tide poolA newly molted Hawiian monk seal rests in a tide pool
I posted a photo of IO5 back on April 27. Since then, I saw him in mid-May looking about the same. Then a couple of weeks ago I saw him again and in the interim he had clearly molted. The green tinge around his head and flippers was gone and instead he looked clean and tan, silvery where he’d been rolling in the water.

One thing that hadn’t changed from previous sightings was his demeanor and activity on shore. Once again he looked supremely relaxed, stretched out in a tide pool.

Many Hawaiian monk seals look pretty beaten up with scars from encounters with sharks, boats, and goodness only knows what other perils of the sea. IO5 is something of an exception in that, currently, he has barely a mark on him.

For more information about Hawaiian monk seals, go to www.pifsc.noaa.gov/hawaiian_monk_seal/ or www.marinemammalcenter.org/hawaii.

Signs: Temporary closure

This section of the Ala Kahakai trail on the Big Island has been temporarily closed for 10 years now.
Back in 2006, an earthquake off the west coast of the Big Island caused extensive damage. One of the casualties was this trail. Part of the cliff it traverses slid into the sea and the path was deemed unsafe. But this wasn’t just some local trail. It’s the Ala Kahakai trail, also known as the King’s Trail, which followed the coast from North Kohala all the way along the west and south coasts to the Puna District in the southeast of the island.

Just beyond this sign is a private gated community and specifically a very large, very expensive house (currently available for 10 or 11 million dollars – it’s been for sale for a while). The trail wasn’t popular with the home’s original owners, who put up a barbed wire barrier (well, I suspect they didn’t actually do the work).

Anyway, the trail has been temporarily closed for 10 years now and, as is the way around here, I suspect it will remain permanently temporarily closed. That is, until the next significant earthquake detaches another stretch of cliff and sends the big house sliding into the ocean. Then, who knows?