Lovely weather for seals

And for ducks!

I looked outside when I heard the sound of a nearby engine this morning and soon identified the culprit: a tugboat was guiding us into port in Lysekil, Sweden. We’ve been here before and had fond memories of a lovely day here. We didn’t want to overwrite those, so chose a different activity today.

We were going on a seal safari. Whenever I say that phrase, I want to correct myself and say, no, it’s “surfing safari” 😉 On this occasion however, I’m glad it wasn’t, because the weather was not looking so good today. 16C and there was more than a little bracing dampness in the air!

By the time we reached the small boat that would take us out into the Gullmarsfjord, the rain was lashing down and we were glad we’d come prepared for the worst the weather could deliver.

To begin with, we took the sensible decision to sit inside and watch through drippy windows for a while, crossing our fingers for better, clearer weather soon.

As soon as it seemed to have cleared up slightly - well, the rain stopped - I went upstairs onto the open deck and was glad to get my flag shot at least!

We had to sail a little further to reach the seals, but in the meantime, a bunch of Eider ducks were putting on a little show. They were running down the rocky outcrop in single file and heading straight into the water, but each time a wave came it washed those nearest the water right in there, possibly a little quicker than they’d intended. I guess Eider ducks are well suited to such happenings however, and they just kept swimming in their single file

Perhaps it was the two sensible ones who stayed back on the dry rock? Or maybe the parents, having sent the kids out to play for a while so they could have a snooze?

Enough silly thoughts about Eider ducks then, because we spotted a couple of seals over the other side.

Our recent Antarctic trip still fresh in our minds, whenever I spotted a dark shape in the sea with a little white plume of spray, I had to remind myself that no, it wasn’t a whale but a small wave crashing on a rock.

And there was always that question: is that a seal? Or is that a bit of rock too?

There were a whole lot of cormorants here. No doubt about that.

And finally, seals in abundance on a nearby rock too! We’d learned they were harbour seals mostly, though there was a small chance of seeing a larger grey seal out here too.

Some of them appeared to be as curious about us as we were about them.

For the next thirty minutes or so, we circled these small islands, watching the seals and trying not to fall over when the boat hit a large wave.

They seemed to be quite comfortable there, not doing a great deal and we were happy to have them pose for photographs.

Cute expressions, aren’t they?

I especially loved the way they folded their flippers over their tummy and thought they were a useful reminder of the shape we might become if we over indulge during the next couple of weeks 🤭

We could, of course, have happily sailed around and around those islands, but it was time to return to the harbour.

Perfect timing for a patch of blue sky to appear too.

Thanks Lysekil for another fun memory to add to our collection, because on rereading that earlier blog post from here, I discover that we’d actually done the seal safari last time as well. Oh but this one had better seals, didn’t it?! 🇸🇪