Today, we saw a big harbour seal lazily swimming on the water in front of our dragon boat in False Creek, just off David Lam Park. I called “let it ride” and the paddlers stopped paddling, and I softly said “Quiet” to the team… as the boat glided quietly… right past the seal… until it was 5 feet away from the boat… When our mid boat reached it, it slowly swam away on the surface… to about 20 feet distance… then dived. It must have been sleeping on the surface… The closest and longest look, I have seen a habour seal from a dragon boat in 20 years of paddling.

Too bad we didn’t have a camera handy… but in June 10, last year, a seal was following our boat, and nipping at the steering oar… These pictures are from our June 2012 photo set