Monday, July 8, 2013
Cape Cod Diary 6: Where Ian is unexpectedly mobbed
We spent the day at our new favorite beach, Head of the Meadow, where I decided to take my daily paddle. I went north towards where the seals rest, and thought that might be an interesting paddle. And it was, in a scary way.
The seals rest on the sand bar that divides the beach in half. The part they like to frequent is submerged with the high tide, although they still gather there. The border between their territory and ours is sign warning humans to not harass, annoy, or even approach the seals. Good advice. The Marine Mammal Act specifically forbids people from approaching less than 150 feet from a marine mammal, something I was not eager to do. (The truth was I had done this many times whilst surfing, but those were accidents.) So I paddled parallel to the beach staying about that distance from the several dozen seals I could see.
I paddled past one group than another, but strangely it always seemed there was about two or three dozen seals to my left on the sandbar. We're there truly so many?
No, they were following me.
When I glanced behind me, there were a dozen or more seals in the water behind. Some were getting closer than I had experienced before.
"Curious creatures," I thought. "How many standup paddlers do they see?"
But as I kept checking on the mob behind me and alongside, it seemed even bigger than before. I estimated I had an escort of about one hundred seals, all looking at me. Me. And following me. And the ones behind me were getting closer. There were splashes too, not so far from the back of my board.
Time to turn back. Yeah, and paddle through that mob of pinnipeds. As soon as I turned the ones closest to me scattered, mostly towards the shore. Not all though. The braver ones just ducked their heads into the water and leg me paddle past. It occurred to me that I'd be paddling past again what the seals considered their territory, but this time followed by a pack of pissed-off pinnipeds. ( Pretty good alliteration, huh?)
The splashes behind me got closer, and I realized these were not just seals being curious. These were threat displays. It was aggressive behavior designed to drive me off or scare me. While it unnerved me a little, I will proudly say I did not paddle faster or show fear in any obvious way, but when a seal splashed a little too close to my board, close enough for me to feel the shudder, it was time for my own threat display.
Seals splash to be aggressive and dolphins snap their jaws or slap their fins against the water. I could do the same. I raised my paddle over my head and smacked the flat on the water three times. This seemed to work. The threat displays stopped. Only one time did I hear another splash, and I responded with more paddle smacks. Take that, you seals!
I returned a little shaken, and a little wiser about grey seals. Yes, they're interesting and graceful, but like so many mammals, in groups they can be a bunch of punks.
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