Just Passing Through...

Isn't he cute?

I was taking pictures at Otter Crest Beach, between Devil's Punchbowl and Cape Foulweather in Oregon. There are lots of interesting rock formations, in sandstone and basalt. Right off one of the sandstone cliffs there are several basalt rocks that are covered at high tide. At low tide, several groups of harbor seals haul out on them to relax. I went out in the morning to take pictures of them.

I got to a rock that I could sit on, so I sat down relatively close to them, maybe twenty feet away. They were on a separate large rock from where I was, with the ocean behind them and a small channel in front of them.

They began to get curious. People usually walk by them talking loudly, or something along those lines. I was silent, and there for about half an hour. I was looking at them, and they began sitting up looking at me.

Now, one of the things that separates harbor seals from sea lions is that they can't rotate their flippers under them. That means that to move they have to flop, much like a worm does. They are very wary on land, but in the water they're graceful, happy, and curious.

Several of them were swimming about twenty feet from me, and poking their heads out of the water. One of the ones hauled on the rock was just sitting up and staring at me the whole time. Eventually, it went into the water, and headed straight for me. It came within four feet of me, swimming, stopped and had a look. We held eye contact for a while, then it swam away.

That was really amazing for me, because of the mutual sense of curiosity. It was worth the waiting to let one of them approach me. I think I'm going to try that again tomorrow.

Taken with a 70-200 MM F/4.0L IS lens, on a Digital Rebel XT.