This afternoon, with the morning rains abated, I paddled out for a 3 hour sea kayak tour with a lovely couple from Seattle. We were hoping to see all sorts of wildlife, and were very excited so many harbor seals came to play by our boats. While sitting on top of a forest of bull kelp just off McCracken Point, we saw first one, then two, then three, four, five and finally a dozen or so seals surfacing all around us. We watched a few patrol the outside edge, but were rewarded for our patience as a handful of seals decided we posed no threat, and proceeded to calmly surface just feet away! These individuals were surfacing on their backs, just poking their noses up to breath, and showed us close looks at their chests and bellies. It was super neat to see all the different markings on each seal-- from a Dalmation pattern to almost all black.
These seals surfaced again and again, riding the currents till they were just feet from us and then silently slipping under our bows. So neat!
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