Monday, June 8, 2015

Seal Pups

It's seal pup season!
In the summer, the baby seals won't leave their mother's side, so you can only see them from a distance. But starting around may, the seal pups, which are now like seal teenagers, are old enough to go off on their own.
They are very playful and curious compared to the adults. One even jumped out to get a closer look at Jill.
We've seen cute pups in tide pools on the west coast near Farewell Spit, and at Abel Tasman while kayaking- but the best place to see lots of pups is Ohau Waterfall near Kaikoura. They hop up a stream 300m inland, up to a waterfall where they play in the pool. There were around 30 pups when we were there, but no adult seals allowed! The pups spend the winter playing up there in the stream and then return to the sea around November.