Remember our tale of sunbathing with a colony of harbor seals off the coast of Vancouver island? (The tiny, uninhabited speck of grass and rock where they live is called Snake Woman Island by the locals - there's an interesting story there for another time.) I just updated the post with some additional photos. Now you can see the whole of the seal colony as glimpsed during our initial approach by boat, and some shots of the seafloor.
A couple of people have asked how we managed to get as close as we did. It wasn't easy. The first rule was following the advice of the divemaster. He told us to avoid making a direct approach and to never, ever stand up in the shallows (the sudden appearance of a towering human silhouette is reminiscent of an orca, for whom harbor seals are a favorite snack.) We took our time and avoided making unnecessary noise, whenever possible allowing the waves rather than fin-kicks to take us closer to the "beach" (I use quotes because it was a sandbar --- more like a pebble-bar -- about two feet across.) Much of the time was spent motionless or close to it, with little more than eyes and snorkel above the waves. Patience pays off.... read all about it in the original post.
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