When I was making my rounds checking it I stoped in AVL and soon as I walk down the beach I was right there litterly 3 feet from me. I walked up to it and then it darted into the water. I never seen a seal this far south ever . Pretty cool and there is a first time for everything
A past swell in december i saw one while i was out there come up twice and just pop its head above the water, pretty cool haha
yeah this one was right on the beach like 4 ft from the access path to the beach pretty neat . I never seen them this far south . Farthest I south I seen them was Brig
i was there...which i only mention because i got the opportunity to talk to some marine biologist who was there "guarding it" on behalf of some organization. he explained to me that the only time these things come on shore is when they're injured or exhausted and need to recover. they'll climb up on the beach and chillax as long as they need to, then go back in the ocean as soon as possible. i don't really know the first thing about biology, but it seems to me that, unlike west coast seals, these ones are far less accustomed to being around people. hence, the skittishness...or maybe not (?). apparently they have all sorts of bacteria on their coat and will bite if you try to get too close, so don't go touching that thing!
i never knew they came this far south, but in the obx last year i saw 2 of them the day after thanksgiving it was very stragne
Guy at Betty and Nick's bait in Seaside Park posted this vid of a seal he found on the beach. From his comments, it seems to be egg laying season. http://www.youtube.com/user/cobra7676#p/u/3/v_RAaroxWUU
We see them fairly regularly up here in Northern Mo Co... I've seen them on the beach, on the rocks, in the Shrewsbury river... but mostly just fishing just outside the surf zone. Mostly Harbor seals, but once in a while a Grey seal. You can tell them apart by the shape of their heads... Greys have really long, straight, pointy heads, and Harbors have smaller heads with shorter noses. You can't go by color, because both come in different colors. Greys are bigger, too... but most of the time you only see their heads popping up. One time I was out in Deal, early spring, nobody out.... and I'm sitting there on my board. Out of the corner of my eye, I see something pop up right next to me and at the same time hear this big sort of "snort".... actually, it was exhaling and blowing out water from it's nose. Scared the crap out of me. When I turned my head really quickly to see what it was, I kinda went, "whoa!" and then he did the same thing... he had come up right next to me, but facing the other way, so when I said, "whoa!" I startled him, too. He snapped his head around, looked at me with a big, round, dark, glassy eye, and in less than a half a second slipped right back under water without a splash.
i saw one beached this fall. It was alive but obviously hurt and must have been pounded by the surf. Rescue center came and picked it up. Poor little guy. They look like dogs with flippers. I also saw one cruising in the back bay while I was fishing. I thought it was a dog at first. When it noticed me it dove under and disappeared.
