Surfs with Seals

Originally uploaded by katzeye

While this is a photo of a young seal that washed up on the beach, there was a very lively one on the beach this morning.

Leslie and I went out this morning to ride some waves. When we arrived, there was a seal body surfing and having a good time riding the waves.

We went into the water and paddled out and started to catch waves right away. The waves were gentle but yet strong enough to give us some good rides.

But the highlight of the day for me was this:

I had just caught a wave and was turning around. I looked just in time to see a beautiful, green, translucent wave rising. Leslie was at the south end of it where it was starting to break, and she was just catching it when I saw a beautiful sight. The seal had also caught the wave and was inside it, beautiful and brown, sliding down sleekly alongside Leslie. My jaw dropped and I pointed, hoping she would see the beautiful creature sharing her wave.

A lifeguard pulled up just then and saw the same thing I was seeing. Somehow that made it more real to me that a lifeguard also watched the dual ride. It wasn't just my imagination!

When the wave broke, the seal shot out from behind and was gone in a nano-second.

I will never forget that sight of green wave, shining and transparent with two riders: Leslie and the sleek, brown seal, sharing an experience together.