Swimming with Seals

25 Nov 2011

I just had a terrible sleep yesterday night. The boss was not here and the manager brought his friends, playing pool with loud music throughout the night until this morning. I had no choice but slept in the living hall.

This morning, while I was cleaning the lodge, the manager received a phone call from Seal Swim company, giving us an offer to swim with seals for free. Despite the bad mood resulted from the poor sleep, I accepted the offer with no hesitation.

After we wore the wet suit and took all the necessary equipment, we rode on a bus to the shore. From there, we went out to the sea in a small boat. There were totally 7 passengers, including a kid and an instructor.

Edwin had a terrible experience swimming in the sea. He was too cold when he did his first trial in Akaroa. I was frightened by his words, but finally I decided to give it a shot. I convinced myself that the wet suit fit my body, and it shouldn't be too bad.

The moment I jumped into the sea, the water started to flow into my wet suit. I was cold for a short moment but the wet suit kept me warm very soon. Later, I dived into the water and looked around to search for the fatty seals around me.

In less than 10 minutes, I saw one swimming in front of me. I 'chased' against it and then swam beside it as if I were one of its group. Not long after, another one swimming below me. I was afraid of their wilderness and hence I swam further, in order not to have a body intact with it. Some of us couldn't swim, optionally they used the floating board.