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A new seal


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No , not an O ring.

The leopard seal that has been around the coast over the last few weeks is in westhaven.

A buddy put a photo up a few days ago on FB and an alert just came through from Westhaven. Knowing where his boat is , I'd think over that W-X side.

 

Quite dangerous animals, One of the Shackelton books read years ago had a quite 'chilling' account of one of his men being stalked by one of these things , A sea leopard.

 

 

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Not my photo, don't have permission to use it, will shout him a rum next time I see him.

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Yes in Port Pegasus Stewart Island we tried to get ashore in a bay with a walking track but there was no way. This seal was so aggressive  that it leapt into the water and swam out under water about 50m to lunge at our RIB, we were very concerned about it puncturing the tubes and beat a hasty retreat. Seal 1 Boat crew 0 !

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One really hot day, a penguin took his car to a mechanic. The penguin told the Mechanic that his car seemed to be using a lot of Oil lately, and could he take a quick look at it and see what the problem is. "How long will it be?" The mechanic replied, "Give me and Hour".

So the penguin decides to go get an ice cream at the grocery store across the street. When the penguin gets there, he climbs inside the big freezer door and starts to eat ice cream.

Three hours go by before the penguin looks at his watch and jumps out of the freezer and races back to the mechanic. With ice cream all over his face , he asks, "So how's my car?" The mechanic looks up while wiping his hands on a rag and says, "Looks like you blew a seal." The penguin says, "No, I was just eating ice cream."

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When they started,  the Hamilton company Seal Imports used to have a cool big billboard of a seal above there entrance. When they moved to a typically boring new building they had lost their sense of humor and the sign didnt come with them.  

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If you are interested in learning more about the leopard seal. I see there are some talks on next week by leopard seal researchers. There are a few options.

13th August 6:30pm - at The Royal NZ Yacht Squadron

14th August 6:30pm - at the Flagship restaurant at Hobsonville marina

and 16th August 6:30pm - at the Flagship Education Centre in Wynyard Quarter.

They say its free. Might be worth going along and seeing what they have to say and could always ask them the hard questions.

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Just attended Giverny Forbes’ very informative presentation about leopard seals. Her research debunks a lot of myths and misconceptions about these creatures. Basically just leave them alone and they will leave you alone. We are very fortunate to have these mega fauna returning to our shores, after they and their cuzzies, fur seals and sea lions, were wiped out by our forefathers.

 

Although I was a bit pissed when Owha bit a whole in my inflatable dinghy last year, it was my own fault for leaving it in the water in the first place. I have to make the adjustment, not the seal. Might have to install a protective screen around the dinghy frame.

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Yes, but Owha makes life very hard when on the pile moorings.

Don't won't to leave the dinghy tied up out at the piles, and risk another $350 repair. 

So constantly ferrying the dinghy back and forth to store on the dinghy racks.

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Yes after listening to Giverny I was impressed by her growing knowledge of them , (there are at least 10 individuals resident around our coastline) she certainly knows a lot more than the DOC pair who spoke at Westhaven in 2016. Her feeling is that they are repopulating our coast and will continue with no one shooting or eating them now.

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