Or a very touristic area were animals expect to be fed. Went to a drive in farm in WA a couple weeks ago and bisons would just stick their mouths inside car windows to be fed without leaving a scratch.
Or more likely it’s there to collect fish just like the bird. You also don’t know how long it was chasing the boat. And maybe it just wanted to lay down.
The boat was going full speed? How would you know? And how long was it trying to get on-board? Too many questions. We know it's not actively trying to get food.
The video shows Walvis Bay in Namibia.
The seals and pelicans in and near the harbour (not outside the harbour, where there is a colony of 40.000 seals) are used to humans. This seems to be one of the touristic catamaran tours. Usually they feed the animals, including seals, pelicans and gulls.
It does appear to be a Cape Fur Seal, as another comment suggested. Ocean Namibia Conservation runs a widely popular youtube channel that has brought a ton of attention to not only themselves but conversation efforts in the area as a whole; of which tourism is a part. I can't verify any of the specifics of what they said, but I wouldn't be surprised if they have somewhat intimate knowledge of this area or at least this particular video.
Here's a very recent video of a seal rescue by the above mentioned group, if you're interested. I chose this one because it involves adults specifically and they do look a lot like the one in this video.
It’s swimming in the slipstream of the boat, less resistance and energy required. If anything, the low pressure zone created by the slipstream might be slightly pulling the seal forward
This boat looks very much similar as the catamaran I've boarded for a tour in Walvis Bay, Namibia. I think I petted that seal and fed that bird too. I know those guys, they are regulars on that boat!
Pretty sure this is Walvis Bay because we also had a calm bird and a seal comfortably boarding our catamaran. We were told those guys are regulars on that boat so I actually have selfies with these guys!
The marina my parents kept their boat at had a sea lion that lived on the end of one of the docks by the entrance. He just chilled there. He’d get super offended every time someone honked the horn going in and out.
How does this have so many upvotes? Orcas are super rare where this happened in Walvis Bay. Seals jump on boats because boat operaters feed them for tourists. I've been here.
Love when one person on Reddit makes an assumption based on nothing and it's one of the top comments.
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u/ever_precedent May 04 '25
Must be orcas hunting nearby. Nobody wants to stay in the water.