Snorkeling with a Hawaiian Monk Seal

   Hawaiian Monk Seals are critically endangered, with a population hovering around 2,000. They can only be found in the Hawaiian island change, with most of them in the unpopulated Northwest Hawaiian Islands. About 200 closely watched, tagged, and recorded individuals call the main Hawaiian Islands home, which means encounters are highly unlikely. In fact if you do see one there is a special hotline to call to report your sighting. NOAA heads up the protection and recording of monk seal sightings, so if you do get the lucky chance to encounter one you can find the phone number to report it on the NOAA monk seal page here.

Monk Seal Large Format Picture

I have been lucky enough to see several monk seals over the years with a couple of encounters being in the water while diving or snorkeling. It is always such a rare treat to even catch a glimpse of these rare creatures. So you can imagine my surprise when I am leading about twenty snorkelers in a rarely visited spot on the west coast of Lana'i and I come across the back end of a seal. Its head was deep inside a small cave. It must have been wrestling with some kind of food because it stayed in there for a bit while we looked on. I kept wondering what its reaction would be when it finally saw us all.

I chuckled into my snorkel as the monk seal turned around, was a little surprised, but then just slowly circled in front of us. I guess curiosity got the better of it as it stayed in the area for a while longer. I'm sure it doesn't get to see other seal-like creatures too much so it was probably as curious as we were. But it isn't a good idea to engage or linger with a monk seal, in case it gets too friendly. We lingered just long enough to get a idea of its curiosity and intelligence before kicking onwards to discover more. Not to shabby for the first snorkel of the week.

Take a look back at a very intimate encounter I had with a monk seal while scuba diving in Maui a few years back here.