Last night I headed out of Friday Harbor with Madeline, Henry, Karina and Eric. We were fortunate to see some great views of Bald eagles and auklets among other sea birds, but the highlight of the trip came when we rounded Turn Island and started seeing a good number of harbor seals. We were excited to see all sorts of seals including mothers and pups that surfaced to check out our kayaks up close. As we paddled along we saw some splashing right next to Karina and Eric's boat and while at first I thought it was common male behavior, it soon proved otherwise. After a few minutes of observation we realized we were seeing two male seals physically fighting with each other-- growling, biting, grunting, splashing and wrestling! I've never seen such intense interaction between harbor seals, and certainly never that close!
It was an incredible view, and we all were pretty excited to have been able to witness it from our kayaks!