Monk Seal Spotlight

Some call her “Queen”, some “Grand Dame”, but I just call her my “Rocky Girl”

My Story...Meeting Rocky for the first time: Wow, it’s hard to believe that Rocky (RH58) is a quarter century old today!   As most people may know, she is my first seal, first Hawaii love and all-time favorite Hawaiian Monk Seal. I first laid eyes on this beautiful girl on November 11, 2015, when I peered out my kitchen window at Iroquois Point and saw this unusually awkward and strange creature crawling up and over the crest of the beach only to bury her head in the sand for a long while. I would later find out that the “monk seal crawl” has the very special and funny name of “galumphing”. 

Although, at the time, I didn’t have a clue to who or what she was, and like most people, as I went out to the beach to get a better look, I now know I was “one of them” and I got too close. But she didn’t seem to mind, she only tossed some sand around with her head, sneezed, snorted, and went back to sleep. I knew at that time though, she was something special, but I didn’t know how special she would become to me personally. 

It wasn’t long before I found out from a volunteer just how wonderful, but endangered, she and all her other monk seal Ohana were. It is a rather sad story from their beginning to current days.  The volunteer talked about their critically endangered status, how many there were still in Hawaii, their significance to Hawaiian culture, and the most important thing how to stand back and respect their space so they can get their much-needed rest.

That day started me on a long spiritual, emotional, and photographical journey with this amazing seal and others that I will never forget. Little did I know that a over a year later, she would birth her pup on a beach in Waikiki that I could see from my backyard across the ocean near Diamond Head and her and her pup would be a global sensation.  The Rocky and Kaimana craze started in 2017 and it's still going strong with Kaimana now a mother of her own.  

Over the next 8 years, I would sit on a beach with Rocky any time I could morning, noon, or even at night under the stars. In my heart and my soul, I will always love, enjoy and cherish every single second of the many hundreds or maybe even thousands of hours I’ve watched over that girl before moving back to the mainland. Mahalo for the beautiful memories my sweet and lovely monk seal mama “Rocky Girl”.

Did you ever wonder how and why she got her name “Rocky”? Meet “The Seal Whisperer” who named her and the backstory behind the man and the name…

In the very, very early days of people protecting the Hawaiian Monk Seals, there was this awesome guy named D.B. Dunlap aka “The Seal Whisperer”. It's a regret that I never had the honor of meeting him.  I have however, heard awesome things and stories about him from many of my Monk Seal friends.  I have also read up on him and this is what I found as it relates to Rocky. 

DB's monk seal journey began on Good Friday 2001 when a female monk seal he would later name “Luseal” hauled out at his feet on Sandy Beach.  Even though he had lived in Hawaii for many, many years, he had never seen a Hawaiian Monk Seal (HMS) before…but there it was, at his feet! He watched, as he put it in one of his interviews “people were acting like fools” (that sounds familiar) and faintly remembered there was a number to call to report seals. He called and a little while later a NOAA employee showed up. It was at that moment looking at this helpless seal and her struggle to just rest, that his life would change and he would become an advocate and protector for this endangered species…or as we now call them, a “citizen scientist”. 

He quickly recruited a group of about 15 volunteers that were trained by NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement on what to do and what not to do. After D.B. started the ball rolling he took a trip to City Mill to get ropes, wood, and signs so his “band of volunteers” or as they would later call themselves “the Posse” could set up a “perimeter”. From that day on, he and his Posse set off daily to scout Oahu beaches to track the seals, to keep them safe. For D.B. and the others, from this day on, the Hawaiian Monk Seals had become their passion. 

A Kauai juvenile seal shows up at Sandy Beach…her name shall be Rocky! 

Later, in January 2003, another little female monk seal, never before seen on Oahu, hauled out at Sandy Beach. It turns out, this seal was a Kauai seal that made it’s first interisland trip (she unbelievably braved the treacherous Kaiwi Channel) which we’re sure was long, scary, and tiresome for this little girl. 

In D.B.’s words from the Monk Seal Mania Blog: “I do not usually usurp the right to name pups born off Oahu, but in Rocky’s case I must make an exception. I’d been told that the Kauai folks, good hearts though they may be, had been (hopfully, jokingly) referring to the pup as Bullwinkle. First of all, no daughter of mine will be named Bullwinkle (a son…sure, but not a girl). The other problem is that they are not familiar with the origins of the name Rocky. She is NOT the boxer, she is NOT the squirrel, she IS the Raccoon, for you non-Whippersnappers who have a clue what I’m talkin’ about, from the Beatles song "ROCKY RACCON". 

Therefore, I claim “Whisperer Rights”, and have decided (her name shall be Rocky). 

Let’s all hum along together boyz and girlz…. You do remember the Beatles……..right? “Her name was McGill, and she called herself Lil, but everyone knew her as Nancy”.  (Huge Thank You’s to my pal Betty Heins for the lyrics). Aloha, DB 

(Excerpt from Monk Seal Mania Blogspot, entitled DB Post Wednesday 4/8/2009).

As a side note:  Why name her after Rocky Raccoon? When D.B. met her, she was a week away from molting with her old coat on, and big dark circles around her eyes, commonly known as "raccoon eyes". Since he spent the rest of his day humming that Beatles' song to himself, it just had to be Rocky. (Info also from the Monk Seal Mania Blog)  Her daughter, Kaimana, carries this physical trait forward as she also displays these Raccoon Eyes, mostly, just before molting.  You can see photos of Rocky's and Kaimana's Raccoon Eyes in the photo gallery below.

Sadly, D.B. passed away on July 3, 2017, but he left a legacy of Love and admiration for a species that I’m sure is better off because they sought him out and won his heart on a Sandy Beach on a Oahu. Mahalo Luseal and Rocky for winning him over. We will all be forever grateful to “The Seal Whisperer” for being an inspiration to others and his dedication to Hawaiian Monk Seal Conservation efforts “to protect and preserve Hawaii’s Monk Seal Ohana” so they will continue to thrive for generations to come. 

Get to know D.B. Dunlap:  https://youtu.be/uZiK_098YDU?si=HdlPZuYvfN1LOi4P 

Ever wonder about all of Rocky’s pups? Here is an overview of her Lineage (I hope I got it right or at least really close):

2006: RO12, son (known by some as Rocket) not seen since 2007 

2007: RB00 (aka BOO), daughter, spends most of her time around Hawaii Island

          2016: granddaughter, stillborn

          2018: granddaughter ROOK/Imikai is born, still seen on Lana’i

                    2023: great-grandseal, (ROOK/Imikai) gives birth but pup did not survive

                     2024: great granddaughter, Imikai gives birth on Lana’i

          2019: grandson, L08/L09, BOO gives birth to BamBam SquarePants, 

                    still seen on Kauai and Oahu

2009: RA00, female, not seen since 2011

2010: RT12, male, died 2016 fishing interaction

2011: RK52, female, not seen since 2021

2012: RL17, female, died unknown causes

2013: RN44, male, seen regularly on Kauai

2014: RF58, female, died from suspicious incident

2015: RG58, male, seen on Kauai

2017: RJ58, female, known as “Kaimana,” seen on Oahu 

2018: RK58, male. sighted around Kauai

2019: RL58, female. Last seen on Kauai 2020

2020: RM58, female. Seen regularly around Kauai

2022: RQ58, male. Currently doing well on Oahu

2024: RT58, female. Currently doing well on Oahu.

Learn about Rocky’s daughter, granddaughter and great granddaughter on the Kauai Seals Blog: https://kauaiseals.wordpress.com/2018/04/09/monk-seal-monday-17-rb00-pups/

Since 2006 and her very first monk seal pup RO12, affectionately named “Rocket” by her Kauai volunteer Ohana, she has contributed a total of 15 pups to her species along the way. Her 15th pup now known as ‘Ili’ili and tagged RT58/59 was born on Sand Island on June 20, 2024. If you think about it, with a gestation period of 11 months she’s been pregnant for…ummmmmmm...a LONG time! We still don’t know what her pupping future will be, but it’s amazing that she still is making such a significant contribution to the recovery of her species. It’s even better knowing that she’s still hauling out at her favorite beaches regularly and she looks healthy and spry. 

For most of you, Rocky will be forever known for giving birth on June 29th, 2017, to our sweet Kaimana (J58/59), her 10th pup and your first love. No matter if your first encounter with a Hawaiian Monk Seal was in person or watching mama and her little black “blob” over streaming video we will all be connected by monk seal love and Hawaiian culture where monk seals are considered spiritual guardians embodying the wisdom of ancestors and the importance of maintaining ecological balance.  Let's all carry the mantra with us to "preserve and protect Hawaii's monk seals"!

Mahalo for reading my story.  I hope you enjoyed it.  Happy Birthday Rocky...you may not always live long on the land or in the sea, but you will always live long in our hearts.