On a sunny, Sunday morning on March 9th (which have been tough to come by this winter!), the Trilogy Blue'Aina program set out on another reef cleanup to scour the shoreline of West Maui. In addition to a full boat of 55 volunteers who joined us to take part in the cleanup, we were also joined by the team from Honua Kai Resort,  the official sponsors of the sail who made a $1,000 donation to the Save the Monk Seal Foundation!

The team headed south to Olowalu to clean the offshore reef, with the good news being that the reef there has been pretty clean on recent visits. This time was no exception, and after checking on the health of the reef (and doing some Fish ID surveys), the team was treated to some exquisite food provided by Duke's Beach House Maui.

As we harnessed the light breezes and employed out microplastic trawl, Cortney Marquette of the Monk Seal Foundation gave a talk about the health of the world's lone remaining monk seal species, the Hawaiian Monk Seal. Many kama'aina who live on the island frequently encounter monk seals (oftentimes lounging on the shoreline), and the foundation provides info on everything from how to report sightings to ways we can help protect the seals.

All in all, it was another successful day on our beautiful island of Maui, and a big mahalo to all the volunteers who showed up to make it a success! Aloha, and a hui hou...