Click here for Vladimir Brezina's fantastic slideshow of a New York Harbor paddle that a harbor porpoise decided to join for a while!
And yes, there were seals too. I still love seeing seals. But I have to admit that I really wish I'd been on Vlad's paddle!
5 comments:
Thanks, Bonnie!!
Actually there was just a single porpoise appearing over and over (we think), which surprised us because when in previous years we've seen porpoises in NYC waters, it's always been in pods of five to ten.
But seals are reliably always there (in winter) around Swinburne Island.
You should join us, next time! On this trip we in fact ended up in your neck of the woods, exploring a new (to me) corner of the NYC shoreline, namely Marine Park off Rockaway Inlet. The island in the middle of the park seems like a nice secluded spot for camping in the summer, perhaps...
Thanks! I think you were typing my comment right as I was making the correction. Amazing pictures.
We've had seals turning up in Jamaica Bay on a very regular basis, but I've only ever heard stories about harbor porpoises.
I also heard another interesting story recently - something about camping at Floyd Bennett Field for people other than school groups and scouts. I will have to research a little more but that is the rumour I heard. Maybe not as secluded as the island you are talking about, but also probably less poison ivy and maybe fewer biting bugs (a bunch of us from Sebago did a full-moon paddle last Summer - we thought we were going to take a beach break on Ruffle Bar but I for one was driven away as fast as I could get in my boat and paddle - they are AWFUL!
Thanks for this new perspective on seals.
Seen from a kayak, they look like the prairie dogs of the bay, popping up all around you like that.
I think they're a bit more common in SF Bay than there, so we tend to be less awestruck by their comings and goings. They often come into the marina and surface close to boats. One was famous for following returning fishing boats and getting pretty boisterous if he wasn't thrown some scraps.
It's rumored he would throw fish back that weren't prepared to his liking, like a, well, like an angry old man in a deli.
Wow - that was a harbor seal, not a sea lion? I would expect it of a sea lions, my impression is that those guys are MUCH more boisterous than harbor seals.
I know for sure it's sea lions you hear about sinking San Francisco sailboats!
hey, there's almost a tonguetwister in there...
Seven soggy sealions sank six san francisco sailboats,
Six san francisco sailboats seven soggy sealions sank.
If seven soggy sealions sans six san francisco sailboats,
WHERE DEY STAY?
OK, the last line is swiped from Freddy Shaka. Freddy Shaka was a Hawaii comedian who somehow never made it onto the internet, but my parents have an album of his that included a set of Muddah Pidgin Rhymes - things like "Little Miss Muffet, sit on top one tuffet, eating some funny kaukau". The "Where they stay" line was at the end of a Pidginized Peter Piper. In Freddy Shaka's version, Peter Piper was a cowboy - a paniolo. And instead of pecks of peppers, he picked papayas, but he was a little touched in the head ("pupule") so he only wen' pick da rotten ("pilau") ones, yeah? So da Muddah Pidgin Rhyme went like this:
Peter Piper da pupule paniolo pick one package pilau papaya
One package pilau papaya Peter Piper da pupule paniolo pick
If Peter Piper da pupule paniolo pick one package pilau papaya --
(dramatic pause) -
WHERE DEY STAY?
Robin's Reef was originally called "Robyn's Rift", dutch for "Seals Reef."
Hi, Vlad! I think I spot you out there!
Post a Comment