Two Very Friendly Seals 22/08/2009

After finally finishing the work in the schools I could take a well deserved break down west. Bobby was on my case straight away and with the forecasted high winds not arrived yet we were soon on the water.

With it being some of the lowest tides of the year it was a good opportunity to explore some of the caves near to Porthsele and around the corner at the mouth of Ramsey Sound.

With Bobby declining the offer to paddle any further I made sure he got back to dry land safely. I paddled out across Ramsey Sound with the promised weather front approaching ominously.

The southerly ebb tide was still flowing quite fast as I approached Gwahan but putting on a sprint I got to the north of the small rocky outcrop and let the tide take me southward. I then break out of the current into the sheltered water where I disturbed a group of Curlew.

At the north end of Gwahan there were some small overfalls to play about in. I stayed for about half an hour breaking in and out of the current and surfing on the small waves before paddling with the last of the ebb tide down to the north of Ramsey Island.

Paddling into one of the many inlets of Bay Ogof Hen I admire the view northwards of Gwahan to the left with the peninsula of St David's Head in the background.

Whilst resting here I was joined by 2 seals who at first were a bit wary but soon got more and more inquisitive getting closer and closer.

I even managed to get a few pictures underwater they were certainly not camera shy as I have found with many of the seals around the island.

Realising they were quite happy to stay around I managed to try out the video function on my new Pentax Optio W80.

The two seals continued playing around the kayak for a while until a Bull seal with one eye arrived on the scene, on which the two playful seals disappeared.

The Bull seal escorted me around Trwyn Ogof Hen and into Ramsey Sound where the wind had picked up considerably while I had been seal watching in the shelter of the north facing cliffs.

The seal escort left me after he had made sure I was safely off his patch and left me alone to ferry glide back across to the mainland and batten down the hatches in preperation for the impending Force 8 gale.