This is my first post on the forum after starting bodyboarding in the last two weeks, but i've spent some time reading here and learned a heck of a lot. Thank you all for posting so much great content for n00bs. I think I'll be investing in a surfboard as soon as I can reliably paddle out past the breakers and catch waves on a body board (caught my first face-ride today!).
Anyway... This morning I was body boarding at Ocean Beach in San Francisco and after the first few waves I saw a seal just about 10-15 feet away from me (less then 5 meters). I swear to god he showed me his teeth (which were not small!). I figured he was hunting and I hightailed it to shore on the next wave and moved down the coast a bit. I continued to surf for about an hour and I saw him quite a few times - sometimes also quite close, but finally I got tired of invading his space and decided to go home before getting bitten.
I did some googling and mostly came up with posts about playful seals - though I did see one or two about seals biting people. Seemed like a wild animal hunting in rough bit of outback to me so I wanted to stay away. What do you guys think? Is it cool to surf in their water? Or is it important to get away quickly? Are they territorial locals or mostly harmless? What is the best way to deal with them?
