“I won’t need that!” she said as we walked towards the beach, the throwline dangling from my hands. –
“The waves look pretty big”, I said, trying not to put her off. “I know my limits” she retorted.
I knew mine – anywhere within a 20metre throw. (What I knew that she didn’t, was that I was just as likely to throw it behind me as I was to hit any distressed swimmer in a deep blue sea.) I huddled deeper into my down jacket and watched the wind trying to turn a wayward bikini into a kite. I shivered.
Looking out to sea, the waves did look bigger, and I thought I spotted a pair of eyes… It was a stormy Sunday, and this tiny strip of Cornish sand might be the only slightly sheltered from the swell. Ellen was going in. She wanted to chance it.
She surged in. The waves surged up. The shriek was unmistakable but not unexpected.
She was in!
And then the eyes reappeared. Just a few metres away, a friendly furry nose poked out of the water.
She was swimming with a seal! — A few minutes later, she got out.
My throwline was where it had been all along.I was huddled deeper into my jacket. The seal gone to see about some smells of storm-washed shellfish.
The magical moment was over.
Originally posted on this post on Instagram
