Wow! You dug deep to resurrect this old thread! Before you can capture that unique image you speak of, you need decent equipment. I spent five years trying to get decent shots of seals and sea lions at play with a point and shoot camera that was quite decent in its day but too slow on the trigger. What I got was a lot of pictures of where the animal used to be and a cloud of silt-maybe a tail going away. Then I spent enough money to buy a really nice used car on a better camera and housing and I have taken wide angle shots of Sea Lions at play that I couldn't have dreamed of with my old rig, which at over $2K with strobes and add on lenses, etc. wasn't cheap.
BTW, in response to OP's query, no contest. Wide is waaaay harder.
