Thanks! We saw two monk seals perhaps three. They are heavily endangered and solitary (hence "monk" seal). The shots shown at the link were during deco surface interval of two of the three tank dives. The first was to about 110 ft. with the other two to lesser depths to stay within no deco limits.
I was dying to free dive down to the rock shelf this guy was resting on but held off to avoid risking DCS during surface interval. Next time I think I would free dive the lot. The viz and water temperature are optimal for it.
Thanks for putting up the excellent monk seal video clip BIGG_BUDD. That one really hung around for a good long time. Did you see any of the seals with the bleached tattoos? The one I photographed and the one you video'ed didn't seem to have any markings. They have a special ease when they dive, good example for human free divers.
The charter to Niihau costs to be sure Justleesa. Still, I would say it is worth saving up for. We hit some spots around the Big Island, Kauai and Maui. Niihau was by far the most unique with the best conditions, e.g. viz. bottom community condition and diversity of life. I took
http://www.seasportdivers.com/ over. They run one of the largest boats and have fewer cancellations due to heavy trade wind generated seas on the return trip to Kauai. It is hard to predict a hole in the trades but if you can swing it, that might provide some of the better conditions not only for the crossing but for when you dive around the cauldera. Some of the spots we hit, are not all that accessible normally due to wind/wave related currents. There was zippo trade wind when I was there, bad for kitesurfing but great for diving.
