SteemitPhotoChallenge Entry - #60 - Baby of the sea

This photo is my entry for SteemitPhotoChallenge by @jamtaylor.
This amazing story happened to me on the island of Bering (part of Aleuthian islands).
The shooting of marine mammals was our main goal in this trip. But getting to the rookery is not so easy. There are no roads on Bering Island. Several hours by car on rough terrain. But you can not approach or approach the rookery itself. This frightens seals and fur seals.

In the water we went in half a kilometer from the seals. This distance had to be overcome on fins. In order to get into the children's area, you need to skirt the rocky cape. Then you can swim in a small bay where children swim.
These cubs of northern fur seals have never seen a man before. Maybe I was the first person who ever swam here and dived.

If you stay all the time in the water, then the animals perceive you as another seal. This is certainly not as simple as it seems. The water temperature in the Bering Sea does not exceed 8-9 degrees. And the use of dry suits and scuba divers repels seals.
But all the difficulties were immediately forgotten. Dozens of tiny creatures clung to me from all sides. They quickly realized that I was not dangerous. For about an hour I became their new toy.

The last photo shows how it looked like. Water in the coastal zone is not the most transparent. Especially when dozens of small fins run into it)
It was impossible to spend more time there. Since I still had a way back. In total, about 4 hours were spent in cold water.
The photos were taken in our expedition to the Commander Islands.