Searching for the “Gray” Hawaiian Monk Seals
It’s the closest I will ever get to the forbidden Hawaiian island of Niihau
In April, I took a week’s vacation in Kauai with my three sisters and two- year-old daughter. Post COVID-19 and post baby, I was finally making some strides traveling and scuba diving more. My two greatest passions in life are world travel and scuba diving and an adventure that mixes them both makes my heart sing.
As I researched interesting dives off of Kauai, I learned about the forbidden Hawaiian island of Niihau. The island was purchased in January 1864 by the Sinclair family from New Zealand for $10,000 from King Kamehameha V after negotiating the sale from his father who had died. As part of the agreement to buy the island, the family and its descendants agreed to let the native people live on the land for as long as they kept up a traditional lifestyle of hunting and farming.¹ Since the island was privately owned, tourism was not allowed on the island and the only visitors would need to be invited by the family or the local people.
Other than a personal invitation from the locals or the family to witness Hawaiians living as they did for hundreds of years, the only other way to see the island was to visit by boat to scuba dive underground lava tubes and search for the illusive Hawaiian monk seal. There are estimates of only 1,500 Hawaiian monk seals in existence with most of them feeding around Niihau. They are the most endangered marine animal off the U.S. Coast.
The visits by scuba boats were even more rare than I imagined since there was a lot of rough weather that could be encountered between the channel of the two islands. During the high winter season, 1–2 boats might get out there successfully 1–2 times per week, and here I was booking a scuba boat ride on the shoulder season in mid-April. Getting to the island through the rough channel successfully was one thing but also seeing a gray monk seal was another.
The morning of the dive, I had to wake up and be out of my hotel in Lihue at 5:30 am to drive the hour to the Southern part of the island to check in and grab the 7 am boat departure. We were about 10 divers making the trip- some experienced locals and others on our virgin voyage. Luckily it was a beautiful and calm day, and we made it across the channel without the hitch.
I automatically noticed the beauty of the island before me. The island was mountainous like the other Hawaiian Islands and covered with a canopy of green.
Our captain steered us in the direction of another boat that was getting awfully close to the island. With his binoculars, he could see security from the island with their guns readying themselves in case the boat decided to land. The boat moved away, and a confrontation was avoided. Our captain told us the family takes the island’s privacy very seriously. They also continue to recruit Hawaiians from other islands to move there as over time the population on Niihue continues to naturally decline.
We got into the water for our first dive and dove through beautiful pinnacles of lava tubes, caves and corals. The visibility was at least 100 meters. Even though I brought my camera, I didn’t take the camera into the water with me diving so I had to make do with the memories.
On the second dive, we separated into two groups first visiting a large lava cave and then moving across a wall. All of a sudden from above, I saw this huge gray blob floating gently down above me. I quickly moved a bit away scared not knowing what it was! Sure enough an eight-foot monk seal fell slowly in front of me until he settled down at the bottom of the ocean floor at 20 meters. I could immediately understand his given name. He had a huge gray body and a gray bald head smaller in relation to his body. His face looked peaceful almost as if in prayer.
The gray monk seal just laid there watching us six divers swim around him taking photos, videos or just watching. I was cursing myself a bit for not bringing my camera but also just enjoying the tranquility of being so close to precious nature.
One of the divers came up close to the seal and they must have both had a curiosity staring contest for a few minutes before finally our dive master called us to make our return trip to the boat.
Once we arrived on the surface, we cheered and reminisced excitedly about our good fortune. Unfortunately, our other group missed the seal entirely, so we tried not to rub it in with them.
We finished up our third and final dive to the serenade of a passing gray whale pod and headed back to Kauia feeling like the island of Niihau had revealed at least one secret to us — her endangered monk seals in all their gray glory!
¹ History of Ni`ihau | Niihau Heritage Cultural Foundation
For some additional gray stories covering other parts of North America, I encourage you to read the following challenge stories.
Jillian Amatt - Artistic Voyages takes you on a mesmerizing photographic gray journey through Western Canada highlighting all four seasons in “A Tour Through Western Canada’s Gray Days”.
Julia A. Keirns recounts the beautiful gray areas of the United States including my home state of New York in “A Gray America is Grand and Glorious”.
A Gray America is Grand and Glorious | by Julia A. Keirns | Globetrotters | Nov, 2023 | Medium
