Peter writes Dec 30th 2014: Close Encounter with an Otter! Diane and I were swimming off our beach this morning in waist-high water
when I spotted an otter swimming nearby. I stood up and, to my amazement,
rather than head away from me it decided to come up close and inspect me. It came
to within a metre of me, popped its head out of the water and for a few seconds
just looked at me, before diving down, swimming once round my legs and coming
up again to check me out. By now Diane and another swimmer had… gathered round
and the otter proceeded to check them all out. It gave us four thorough
look-overs before swimming away.
You can imagine our collective delight. We’d known
for years that there was a family of otters in the bay, and had twice watched
them at dawn walking cross the beach. This is the first time in twenty years
that we’ve met one in the water. So unafraid, so at ease.
(This photo is from the web, to give you an idea
of what our Cape Clawless Otter friend looked like.)