Petting seal puppies at Whytecliffe

[ripster]

Went for my first 'real' fun dive after doing my courses with one of my course buddies. We did two dives at Whyteciffe park since that is where we trained the most and we have some familiarity with the location.

We dove the left side 'starfish' wall first, drifting along the wall with the current, awesome! We dove the right wall after that and saw an amazing anemone 'forest'.

Swimming out to the second dive site a very small seal pup (less than 1m long) came up to me, popped it head out of the water, scaring the bejesus out of me It then swam into my arms and i petted it for a few seconds, it then barked at me a few times and took off to check out my dive buddy.

It looked like this:

It was adorable, just like a little puppy, an experience I won't forget any time soon!

 

[TishaDee]

I've done a dive with Seals and Sea Lions here locally (Breakwater in Monterey, CA) and have run into them on a couple of other dives. I do believe they are natures clowns. They are eternally curious and playful! A true treat to run into these guys on any dive!

 

[Sintax604]

Hey ripster!
Great encounter! I just did my OW course in Vancouver as well and I'm hoping to get out to Whytecliff this weekend to look for the fabled six-gill that's allegedly been hanging out there and HOPEFULLY have an experience like yours. Close encounters with the "big stuff" was one of the main attractions for me about diving. You're lucky to have one so early in your career!

 

[askdjasd]

I was told last night while doing a pool dive that the six gill is hanging around outside of the peak of whyteclif.
It might be outside restrictions for open water divers.