Advertisement

Seal Seeks Refuge on Boat as Orcas Swim Nearby

A “cornered” seal took refuge on a Canadian nature enthusiast’s boat as a number of orcas swam nearby, with footage of the seal perched on the back of vessel posted to Instagram.

British Columbia native Nikolai Coutinho took video of the seal, telling Storyful that the moment was originally captured back in 2018 before being reshared online recently.

Taken on July 1, Canada Day, of that year, the video shows at least two killer whales close to Coutinho’s boat, while the seal looks out on the water from the safety of the vessel.

Coutinho said the moment occurred after he and friends had gone out sailing close to Vancouver Island, looking for killer whales.

While they did spot some, he said, they lost sight of them only to later see some “thrashing” in the waters. Coutinho said, “After a quick scan with the binoculars we saw those same killer whales from earlier chasing a seal. It seemed as though they had the animal cornered, until it darted over to us.”

He said that before the group “realized what was going on,” they were “surrounded by killer whales … as we headed to the back of the boat, there was the seal safely sitting on the back.”

Following local guidelines to turn their engine off and wait, Coutinho said the group watched on for “about 45 minutes” as five killer whales “came within a meter” of the boat.

The orcas, he said, eventually “tired” and swam away, though the seal didn’t go anywhere for “another hour” until it “eventually sunk back into the ocean” to temporary safety at least. Credit: Nikolai Coutinho via Storyful

Video transcript

- Yeah, I got the other side, the north side. And that explains--

[BLOWING]

- Oh, he's on--

- Yeah, I got the other side, the north side. And that explains--

[BLOWING]

- Oh, he's on--

- Yeah, I got the other side, the north side. And that explains--

[BLOWING]

- Oh, he's on--

- Yeah, I got the other side, the north side. And that explains--

[BLOWING]

- Oh, he's on--

- Yeah, I got the other side, the north side. And that explains--

[BLOWING]