I love where we are living at the moment. The beach is within walking distance. School is within walking distance. There's an amazing Fish and Chips shop within walking distance. We get dozens of native bird species flying into the backyard. And now, for the time being anyway, we have a resident fur seal visiting the island.
From time to time, a lone fur seal decides to visit the island and lay around on the beaches for a few months. The little fella visiting the island this year has been here for a few weeks and moves from beach to beach. So late one afternoon we went on a beach walk to find said fur seal. Through social media - no, the little fella doesn't have an account, the locals have been tracking his whereabouts on the island - we found out where we might find him and we set off on a beach hike.
O and L had fun along the way - chasing waves, finding shells, weaving paths up and down the beach, asking every person heading the opposite way if they'd spotted the seal - until we spotted the little fella having a snooze on the shoreline.
Before we headed off on the beach hike, we gave both little superheroes strict instructions that if, and it was a big IF, if we found the seal that they weren't to go too close. There is an exclusion zone in place for the seal's safety and for the locals safety. When they spotted the seal, the both crept forward quietly and sat down to watch the little fella sleep. There were cries of "Oh, he's so cute!" and "Why isn't he moving!"
L was fascinated by the seal and kept trying to creep closer and closer to him. L just doesn't understand the concept of danger quite yet. At one point the little seal gingerly opened one eye and starred at L as if to say "What are you doing? Get away from me!" Just before we left to walk back to the car, O and L sat in the sand and drew pictures for the little seal. It was a great experience for both O and L. It's not often that you get to see wildlife like this up close in their natural habitat!
There is a seal beach near my area, and it’s wonderful to see them. There’s a lot of controversy over it, because the area was meant to be a children’s pool. My thoughts are that it belongs to the seals.
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