More monk seals at Nimitz Beach

Here's Rocky, another Hawaiian monk seal, resting on Nimitz Beach Saturday afternoon. I like this wider shot as you can make out Honolulu, Waikiki, and Diamond Head toward the East. Rocky has had a good Spring. She was tracked by the local volunteer network to Kauai in April, where she had a pup. She stayed with the pup there for 4-6 weeks, then weaned the pup and is now back on and around Oahu beaches. I've learned that seals tend to come back to the same place to have their pups. Rocky has "pupped" on Kauai in years past, so when she disappeared from Oahu shores (looking really, really big and obviously pregnant) they figured she swam to Kauai when her time was nearing. They were right.
This stretch of beach was pretty quiet, and Rocky probably had a peaceful day with only a little volunteer monitoring. Other times when seals haul out to crowded beaches, they will get more than the ropes to surround them - they will have one or two volunteers working hard to let the seals sleep undisturbed, mostly intercepting humans and dogs who get to close.