the Way of the Turtle

SEALS!
2.7 Mile Walk at John H. Chafee Nature Preserve
Sunday, November 20, 2011

I visited the Chafee Nature Preserve back in May, on my way home from the Shad Bloom 10 trail race on Block Island. At the time I'd read that during the late fall and winter, harbor seals often would haul out on a group of offshore rocks at low tide... unfortunately, I wasn't there at the right time of year or at low tide, so all I got was a pleasant walk through the woods and along a rocky, shell-covered beach. But I did make tentative plans to come back, especially after exploring the excellent Rome Point seals website.

I had originally thought to return to the preserve after running the Lil Rhody Runaround this morning, but then last night I checked the tide table and discovered that low ride would be around 8:30 AM... which meant my best bet for seeing seals would be to go before the race, ideally arriving around 7:30 AM... so I set my alarms for an very early morning and programmed the TomTom for a trip to the Chafee Preserve followed by a dash to Burlingame State Park in time to get ready for the race.

Got off to a slightly late start, but made it to the preserve by 7:45 and was pleased to find myself alone in the parking lot... for a few moments, before multiple cars with dogs arrived. So I hustled down the main path in hopes of remaining ahead of them, and surprisingly managed to do so all the way down to the beach. As I walked along the beach out to the point, I did run into one of the walkers and her dogs... but was lucky to find the actual point deserted. Though the boat out on the water left me skeptical about the chances of seeing any seals...

But once I zoomed in on the rocks, I was thrilled to see that I was wrong - there were several seals on the flatter rocks, as well as gulls and cormorants! So I settled in as comfortably as I could to wait and see if more seals showed up (according to the website, there were no seals the previous two Sundays, but 72 seals this past Tuesday!) It was tough to tell in the small camera screen, but it did seem like a few more showed up while I waited - and later review of the photos showed a number of seals I couldn't see at the time.

While I waited and watched I also watched the gulls, in particular a pair that seemed to be looking for food a short distance away - they drew a lot of attention to themselves by periodically launching into shrieking calls, especially if another gull flew by. I also spent time swatting some nasty biting flies - apparently November only cuts their numbers but doesn't wipe them out completely (then again, it was up around 60 degrees today...)

Eventually time ran out, and I had to make the hike back to the car. Snapped a few final shots of the seals and the bay, and then headed back to the road along a different set of trails. When I got back to the parking lot I discovered that I was leaving at a good time - there were a lot of people and dogs in the lot! I was definitely lucky to have the point mostly to myself for the hour or so that I was down there!

JMH