OP
Per Captain Bill, of the Lady Patricia, chances of a good seal dive are better if they are basking on the rocks and not actively hunting. He really knows his stuff! That's what I've seen in my limited experience, too.
These two little islands are often frequented by seals and we saw a couple dozen seals up on the rocks as we checked out conditions. The Captain said it looked like it would be good that day.
The result was that all ten of our divers saw seals during their dive. Some had seals pass at a distance, most had seals approach within a few feet, some had a group of seals approach together. Some had very close encounters.
For me, my encounters that day were the best I'd had in four trips to the Isles of Shoals, but I've had real close encounters on another of those trips (see the seal image in my Public Profile composite).
A third trip didn't have them real close, but certainly swimming within ten feet, and the fourth had rough seas and no seals basking on the rocks, so we didn't dive in their favorite spot that day.
So, from my perspective, diving with Captain Bill, half the trips had wonderfully close seal encounters, one had nice passes and sightings and one trip was too rough to have seals in that area.
I'd suggest a call to the charter of your choice to see if they've seen seals lately and then make your decision.
By the way, the best sightings were in the summer and the only time we were blown out was a fall trip in October. The weather becomes more iffy beginning in the fall.
All things considered, diving with seals is a truly wonderful experience and worth taking the chance!
Dave C
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