Hawaiian Wildlife - Part 3

While in Hawaii I saw a lot of wildlife.

These egrets were everywhere - alone and in flocks.

One night we went to a beach where sea turtles often come up on the beach. When we arrived there were a large group of people standing way back from the turtles. Coming closer we discovered the reason; lying on the beach was a monk seal! One resident said he had lived here for 60 years and had only one other time seen a seal on the beach on the North shore. The seal watcher people said she was probably pregnant because of her size and grumpiness. (sorry its fuzzy but we weren't allowed to use flash.)


And of course the chickens are everywhere! This picture was taken at a gas station.


Sea turtles come up on this beach everyday to escape the sharks. People can get very close to them although you can't touch them because they are protected.


This turtle was in a tidal pool nearby. We actually got to swim with the turtles when we went swimming at our beach. Every now and then we would see one surface nearby.


The rocks at Turtle Beach were covered with sea crabs.
Can you see them?


A patient fisherman spent hours fishing outside our cabin. He caught a puffer fish, and since they are poisonous he just left it.


The fisherman also caught an octopus.

On the second to last day, we went to a lagoon to swim. It was a man made lagoon with openings to the ocean. Suddenly Aunt Debbie asked me, "Is that a person?" I looked and wondered myself for a second. Both of us then realized what it was at the same time! A seal! It glided into the lagoon swam around and came up on beach several times. Everyone on the beach was watching, fascinated as this beautiful seal swam around for about ten or fifteen minutes before leaving. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture because my camera ran out of batteries a few hours before.

As we were leaving the same beach we saw spurts of water coming out of the ocean. Humpback whales! We watched for awhile and saw them blow and come to the surface several times.