The conditions over the last few days have been phenominal. We headed out to the seal colony to be greeted by amazing conditions and an abnormal amount of seals in the water playing. Here are the images to show you what I mean
Caught in a playful frenzy
Lauren, Emma and Lee about to join the seal pups
Lauren de Vos writes – Soaking up the warm rays of an unexpectedly summery day, we dodged the crowds thronging the beaches around Cape Town and headed out on the Animal Ocean boat to spend an afternoon snorkeling with seals in Hout Bay. It had been a long time since any of us had been out in the ocean and our chatty enthusiasm was encouraged by Steve as he guided the boat towards Seal Island; all of us taking deep gulps of the salty air and whooping with delight as we cruised over the azure water that glittered all around. Wrapped in as much neoprene as we could muster, without losing all of our ability to move, we were more than ready to brave the cold water! Goggles on, snorkels in – and with much laughter all around – we plunged in amidst the gently waving kelp, sparkling bubbles … and dozens of seal pups, their tiny torpedo bodies zooming past us as we kicked our flippers and dived deeper. Exhilaration, fascination and enchantment was evident on every one of our faces as the pups swam fearlessly over to investigate our strange forms, our goggles mirrored in their big, dark eyes. It was all action as we played together, us in our neon-lemon snorkels, and the seal pups’ small, dark shapes flitting in between our delighted group. Of course, there was plenty time to dive down to investigate the bright blues, purples and reds of the anemones clinging tenaciously to the rocks. We excitedly pointed out slow-moving nudibranchs to each other, and marveled at the myriad of life and colour swirling around us. It was a breathlessly happy group who reassembled later on the boat, peeling off our layers of seal-like wetsuit and sharing stories of what we’d seen. An afternoon of sunshine, salt water and seal pups? There’s nothing like it!
Hanli Prinsloo and the curious pack of pups
