Seal Watching Tips

Seals are on the rocks off the northern end of the beach, for 3 to 5 hours around low tide. The seals are over 300 yards from the shore, so bring your binoculars. Wind from the west (or NW/SW)... seal watching is best. Arrive on the beach two hours before low tide to see lots of seals. Boats, kayaks, and drones may scare the seals away, the best way to observe the seals is from shore using a spotting scope.

Monday, November 28, 2022

Sunday 11/27/22 - 14 seals hauled out, 55 degrees, SW 10 to 15, cloudy, 1430. A slow developing seal scene today, as the stiff southwest wind held the tide up in the bay. The seals were unsettled, probably due to an approaching frontal rainstorm, and showed marked reluctance to haul out for the second day in a row. In the hour and a half we were there, the number of seals present only increased from 8 to 14, but there was occasional breaching and tail slapping observed, which gave the impression that some seals were frustrated that the rocks were still mostly submerged. We left about an hour before low tide to avoid the rain, slightly disappointed that the Thanksgiving weekend seal watching was not as good as we had hoped.

Saturday, November 26, 2022

Saturday 11/26/22 - 1 seal hauled out, 47 deg, NW 10, clear 1400.  5 seals on far rock for 6 seals total. Upon our arrival, we immediately recognized that the seals were just not in the mood for hauling out this afternoon. The conditions seemed fine, but we watched as over a dozen seals approached the rocks, surveyed the situation, and departed. We have seen this before, particularly in the fall, and we believe that the day after a strong cold front passes thru the seals are not as inclined to take their rest on the rocks. But the cold front on this occasion was on the weak side, and the far rock was occupied by resting seals, so today will go down in our records as one of the mysterious days when we have no clue about the reasons for the seals' behavior.


Thursday, November 24, 2022

Wednesday 11/23/22 - 68 seals hauled out, 44 degrees, NW 10 to NNW 15, clear, 1215.  8 seals on far rock for 76 seals total. A delightful seal watch today, with enough interesting seal observation to hold our attention for almost 4 hours on the Rome Point beach. The light for the scope was excellent for high magnification close-up viewing, and with the moderate breeze the seals were more active today than they were on Sunday. We recognized more seals that have returned this season, including 3 seals that were perched atop the rocks we call the "twins". These seals are now are a bit older and larger, with more distinctive markings that we were able to discern and recognize. There was a small seal on the pointy rock that has a wound on its belly that will be easy to identify as we watch to see whether it can hold onto its resting rock if the larger seal that was hauling out here last year returns at some point. We also recognized several additional seals, including one with a double net entanglement scar and an especially fat seal that habitually arrives late in the tide and hauling out on a semi-submerged rock that does not require much effort to climb onto.


When wildlife watching you never know what you are going to see if you pay attention and after all this time the seals continue to surprise us. Today our surprise came in the form of a unique aggressive behavior which we were fortunate to witness because we are always attentive when we hear the seals vocalizing. Upon hearing a few feral growls, our attention was drawn to an agitated seal that appeared to be defending its resting rock from an as yet unseen marauder. Suddenly the attacking seal leapt out of the water at a right angle to the seal on the rock and delivered a flipper slap directly to the face of the surprised seal. We have seen seals in the water lunge at seals on rocks many times to bite or poke at seals whose rocks they want to take, but never before have we seen an a flipper slap thrown by an airborne seal. The seal on the rock plunged its face into the water while remaining on the rock, which is a common defensive maneuver that probably served to ease the sting of the face slap as well. About 30 seconds later the seal in the water made a second pass in a similar fashion, but this time the seal on the rock was wiser and managed to avoid the extended left front flipper. Having had enough, the seal on the rock took to the water, where we believe that these sorts of territorial squabbles are sometimes settled underwater out of our sight. Later, one of the seals got onto that rock and the other seal hauled out on a nearby rock, but we were not able to ascertain which seal ultimately won this battle.


Shortly after noon, the wind picked up and shifted a bit to the north, which caused us to move into the shelter of the trees. The seals on the taller, more exposed rocks sometimes are less tolerant of a gusty wind, and at 1225 about 20 seals on the twins and on the ridge rock flushed. Only a few of these seals left the area, and as they resettled this triggered a round of mild territorial skirmishes. We had nowhere else to be this afternoon, so we enjoyed hanging out and chatting with other seal watchers for a while. At 1405, a single kayaker approached the rocks and flushed all of the seals but one; at the same time a sailboat flushed the seals on the far rock as well. As we departed, we paused for a moment of silent gratitude for this day in nature, while recognizing that free days watching wildlife and socializing with like-minded nature enthusiasts have become less frequent for us over the past several years. We treasure these times more than ever now, and look forward to all of our winter nature explorations with a renewed sense of anticipation and thankfulness.

Monday, November 21, 2022

Sunday 11/20/22 - 52 seals hauled out, 36 degrees, W 15 to 30, clear, 9:30  We took our first seal walk of the season on Sunday morning, and there were over 50 seals hunkered down on the rocks in spite of the gusty west wind. When we first arrived the seals were napping soundly, with eyes closed to protect their eyeballs from stinging dry wind. We recognized several seals from last season that have returned to the rocks, most notably a seal with distinctive scars on its left shoulder that have healed nicely. 

At 0940 a squadron of four military helicopters flew over Rome Point, and every seal present raised their head and scanned the area, looking for the source of the low frequency throbbing sound. After the helicopters passed over the seals were more unsettled, and at 9:55 the seals on the flat rock and right mound flushed as though they were terrified, but for no apparent reason. At 1025, the seals on the ridge rock departed as well and none of the swimming seals returned to the rocks, leaving about 24 seals remaining when we left.

Today was a day where the seal observation was nothing special, but the walk and the wind and the waves on the water served to transport us to our "happy place", once again reminding us of all the gifts that Rome Point, and other wild places have to share. The 2022-2023 seal season is off to a good start, and seal watching and the associated pleasures will be well worth the walk in the middle of the day through Thanksgiving day. 

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

We are working on moving the Rome Point Seals website to the Blogger platform on January 1, 2023. For the remainder of 2022 we will be posting duplicate posts and the website will have instructions on navigating to our new Blogger home. If you are reading this, you have come to the right place for the up to date info about the awesome seals of Rome Point.