The military has a significant presence in Hawaii – think Pearl Harbor on Oahu – and the Big Island sees its share of the action. Naval exercises take place offshore and the saddle between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea is home to the Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area. Troops and equipment are landed at the harbor at Kawaihae and the driven the 30 odd miles to the base.
I’ve seen this ship, and ones like it, off the northern tip of the island where they make a course change and head off to Oahu.
This old boat has a good view of the nearby ocean, even if it didn’t quite get there.
At sunset, the sky and water display a slowly-changing palette of pastels.
A spear fisherman eyes breaking waves as he makes his way toward the shore on the rocky North Kohala coast.
A couple of yellow tang swim around rocks as the surface water ripples overhead.
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.
A pair of baby convict tang putter around in a shallow tide pool.
In my attempts to identify what I see in the water, I use John P. Hoover’s book The Ultimate Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes, Sea Turtles, Dolphins, Whales, and Seals. His website is hawaiisfishes.com.
Graham's Island 