In the first week of summer, I took a trip to Ni’ihau to complete some dives. Ni’ihau is the 7th largest Hawaiian island and 18 miles south of Kauai across the open ocean. Despite that small distance, Ni’ihau is a haven for sea life, especially the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, with more seals in that island’s waters than all the other main Hawaiian islands combined. During our dives on the adjacent submerge crater islet of Lehua, that abundance was very noticeable. For instance, after 3 dives we spotted 8 different monk seals, a truly spectacular number. Other members of our group even saw two large male seals sparring aggressively underwater!
I hope to replicate zones of safety like Ni’ihau on a smaller scale with my research, allowing sea life to thrive. My dives inspired me to work harder to achieve my goal and reminded me that there are still healthy ecosystems to protect.
Monk seals were everywhere…wait for my reaction at the end of the video ;)!
Our group even saw two adult male monk seals fighting!
Clouds of butterflies, tangs and triggers on a wall.
In such clean water, the macro hunting was excellent.
There were herds of nudibranchs, like this pair of scrambled egg nudibranchs.
Resilient Reef Research 
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