A group of amateur whale watchers off the coast of Washington’s Camano Island got quite a surprise when a seal jumped onto their boat to escape a pod of killer whales. The group was out on the boat watching some orcas, about 300-400 yards away from them, when the hunt began. The group noticed that the whales were engaging in predator behavior with a lone seal. The pod had apparently been using the seal for hunting practice and it had been batted up out of the water more than once. The group shut off the boat’s engine in case the animals came closer, and just over 30 minutes later the seal came even closer than expected, jumping onto the boat. The whale watchers said the orcas circled the boat in search of the seal, but gave up and left after about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, the exhausted seal got comfortable enough that it went to sleep. The group eventually restarted the boat’s engine and headed back to shore, with its semi-aquatic passenger still on deck. Once they got closer to shore, the seal decided it felt safe enough to leave the boat and jumped off.
