We rendezvoused in the afternoon at one of my favourite spots which is home to the friendly seals I have blogged about in the past. From my experience I knew that there was about a 90% chance of encountering the seals and likely getting to swim with them. Through my binoculars I could see two of them basking on the rocks just above the water line, and as we got ready the tide reached them and they slipped into the sea.
Knowing that they were around and swimming I felt confident that we would get a good dive. As we entered the water we saw that the visibility wasn't great but certainly acceptable and we struck out towards where the seals had been resting. As we drew near I saw the recognizable head of what I had always though of as the 'mother' which we were informed later is a male. In my experience the males are usually more standoffish which is perhaps why I always assumed he was a female despite his masculine features.
We dived with him for some time but he was not as playful as usual and I didn't wasn't to pester him so we finned off around the rocks to a gully I know the females and younger seals like to frequent. I hoped that he might follow us but he had obviously lost interest at this point. Luckily the younger seal (probably the pup I first met last year) was in the gully as I had hoped and she immediately began circling us and acting in a very inquisitive and brave manner. Two other females showed up but kept their distance, on occasion racing past us very quickly, they put on a great show!
(As usual it's best in hi def/ full screen.)
Unfortunately my friend had only brought his compact camera and not his large high quality rig so although we got some nice shots and some fun video he didn't get the images he needed for his project. It was a great dive though and I was thrilled to find the young pup growing up into a beautiful adolescent, much braver than she was the first time I met her. She even approached me and gave my fins a little sniff so I'm hopeful of many more great dives with her In the year ahead.
On the fin home my mullet sense started tingling so I loaded my gun and sure enough found a couple for dinner in the murkier water close to shore.
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