Whale Entanglement

Today was a Linda Adventure.

My adventure was at the Kilauea Lighthouse where I try to stop by daily to watch the birds, but mostly the humpback whales offshore. This week has been amazing for spotting whales. It has been easy to spot and watch new groups of 4-6 swim by every 10-15 minutes. (One of the docents at the lighthouse and I think they're being rather sexy right now).

Today, I saw a large whale with what looked like orange plastic near its pectoral fin and tail. At first I thought it might be some sort of radio tag. But, two? Two men nearby told me they'd been watching and could clearly see the plastic was buoys. We had an entangled whale. It didn't seem to be too distressed, but the lighthouse called the NOAA Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary headquarters. We informed Ed Lyman, an entanglement expert, about the whale. While we waited, each of us kept our eye on the group of whales as it traveled to the east and south of us. The U.S. Fisheries Department came out and questioned us. We helped the official spot the group, and the U.S. Coastguard was sent out to tag the whale so the entanglement team can try and free it of the lines.

From the Fisheries person, we found out that another whale had washed up on shore on the west side of the island. There had been a sighting of a humpback whale that was entangled in rope with orange buoys a few days earlier and it was thought that the dead whale was one in the same. The entangled whale was still alive. I'll let you know what I find out about its outcome with the entanglement team. Visit http://hawaiihumpbackwhale.noaa.gov  to find out more

Usually, we inform you of our dogs' happenings. Today was a quiet day at home for the dogs. Sea-Sea gave us a scare last night. She became ill quickly - 104.5º fever, vomiting, lethargy, heavy panting, tremors. After an IV treatment, a heavy dose of antibiotics, and doggie aspirin, she's been resting all day with no fever. Keep your fingers crossed for our old girl.