Capturing the Moment

  Today the winds were up and the surf was down so I decided to get some underwater shots while staying completely dry...at the Waikiki Aquarium! This little aquarium is one of the oldest in the United States, built in 1904.   I had never really tried to take pictures in an aquarium before and it proved to be very difficult. The low light and moving subjects are a photographers worst nightmare, although the fish themselves can get quite close to you. Once I strapped on the wide angle lens I was able to snap a few low light shots. My favorite tank to photograph turned out to be the shark tank which also housed some truly gigantic groupers.   Outside the main hall the Hawaiian monk seals steal the show. One has very bad cataracts so it has been here in captivity for nearly all of its life. The two monk seals are usually in separate pools but were brought together to see if they can coexist peacefully. They were trained to kiss every time they first see each oth...

There have been very few times when I have been out in nature where an animal is big enough not to be scared of me and curious enough to stick around to check me out. This time it happened to me with a very rare endemic Hawaiian Monk Seal. Population estimates put the total number of Hawaiian Monk Seals below 2,000 individuals...in the world. However when compared to the other 2 species of known monk seals this paltry number sounds a little more hopeful. There are about 600 Mediterranean Monk Seals and 0 Caribbean Monk Seals. The last sighting of a Caribbean Monk Seal was in 1952 and was officially declared extinct in 2008 after a 5 year exhaustive search came up empty.    Conservation efforts have been put into effect for both of the remaining species of Monk Seals. Out here in Hawaii NOAA heads up the effort with a Monk Seal specialist on each island as well as a network of volunteers. Sharks are the biggest natural predator of these seals although some fishermen target ...