Thursday, January 19, 2012

TP Thursday: Seaside Serendipity

Hula Babe and Beach Boy (our noms de blog while in Hawaii) set out Monday afternoon to visit Honu, the sea turtle we’d happened upon last year at a nearby lagoon.  We were disappointed in not finding our old friend, but totally stunned to find a new treasure: a Hawaiian Monk Seal sunning herself at the lagoon.

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What’s so amazing about our find is that there are fewer than 1,100 such wonderful creatures still alive; they are an endangered species on course to vanish in 30 – 50 years.

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She had arrived on the beach Monday morning and the volunteer keeping watch over her said she’d likely swim away that night.  A rope barrier kept curious on-lookers from disturbing her slumber.

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Sadly, the headlines have been reporting that three Hawaiian Monk Seals were killed recently; two on Molokai and one on Kauai – rewards are being offered for information leading to the criminals responsible for the deaths. The good news is that people like the volunteer are working to keep the seals safe.

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Hawaii continues to provide us a new travel treasure with each visit – this one was priceless.

It is TP Thursday so head to Budget Travelers Sandbox for more photos and tales from around the world. Just click these photos to make them larger.

3 comments:

  1. Always heartbreaking to hear about the demise of a species. There's no excuse in the world for not trying to help them along. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Beautiful, isn't she? Sad hearing that they could become extinct. We really have to do better to protect these and all the others that are threatened.

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  3. What a great find on the beach. Love the images. Sorry to hear about the other seals, though.

    It's the huge South American Sea Lions ("lobos marinos") that we get here in Chile on the coast.

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