Who says they aren't friendly?

Hi Kris B,

In case you didn't notice, he's swimming up to the kid! I just happened to be there with the camera. What's up with the "1"??? Do you think this 8 year old little kid made the seal do this??? Come on, this is a great picture! Do I get a "1" for composition? Is the lighting bad? Is there too much brown in the water for you or what?

I honestly don't think this photo deserves a "1" vote, but, I guess you really wanted to make some kind of point here. It sure is better subject matter than the last pictures I saw of how they treat the little baby seals up in Canada!

Anyway, this friendly seal was soon chased for hours, trapped in a net, doped with tranquilizers and then shipped off to nowhere land by the local authorities. I wish I had that part on film for you!

no, my problem is with the fact that this is an endangered marine mammal and human contact only encourages them to do stuff that causes more endangerment... I don't see any pictures of you riding a turtle -- are you afraid of a fine for those ones?

I'm firmly behind the "take only pictures, leave only bubbles" philosophy -- and this picture does not give a clear indication that you are at all in line with that, not to mention the bughunts you do.

Hi Kris,

All I can say is "You had to be there".

And as far as my bug hunts go...just because I advertise that I lead them, doesn't necessarily mean that I have done any, does it? I have never logged an official Bug Hunt Lobstert Dive that I charged customers for. Not once in 2,344 dives!!! I have it on my website, mostly to attract a crowd of more advanced or adventurous divers, you know people looking for a more extreme dive. When people call on it, I typically talk them out of trying to catch bugs and just take them on a cool night dive. You should relax a bit and quit worrying about what I do in the water until you actually get in the water with me and see wtih your own eyes. Have you ever heard of hunting guides? Fishing Guides? It's nothing new KrisB. and I guess I'm sort of a little of both.

Back to the seal....he was already used to humans since he was younger. It's a unique situation with a unique animal, not a "wild" seal. I didn't tell the kid to hug the seal. I didn't tell the seal to hug the kid. I got the picture! That's all! And riding turtles, what is your problem? Do you know they can slow their heartbeat down to like one beat every nine minutes??? Riding turtles isn't a good idea. I do help the ones that are entangled in fish hooks and fishing line....had to cut one free of five feet of twisted, tangled stainless steel leader just yesterday...I even have witnesses if you don't believe me!! That's in my log book! If you have a problem with people mistreating turtles, talk to the fishermen of the world, not me.

I dive almost every single day KrisB. I see a lot of stuff going on that you and most of the rest of the world has no clue about. I carry my camera on every dive. When something that is once in a lifetime happens next, I'm hoping to get it on film, well, memory card I guess I should say.

It's quite interesting that you have started this conversation to begin with. There are like 35, 000 members of Scubaboard and no-one else is complaining to me. You should respect my opinion as I respect the fact that you're entitiled to yours and leave what I do up to me to decide. I don't tell you how to dive but I bet I could teach you a thing or two about the sport.

I'm off to the beach, looking to shoot more critters....with my camera!

Alo-Ha!

Nothing with the photo itself but the fact that you guys were so close to this potentially VERY dangerous animal isn't good.

Great picture!

Wish I would have seen one of those on my trip to Maui. Your Lucky to have seen this