Video: Hawke’s Bay man captures seal riding waves at Te Awanga surf spot

A Hawke’s Bay photographer says a seal he snapped trying out his local surf spot rode the waves “better than some of the locals”.

Michael Farr is a professional photographer and videographer based on the Cape Coast.

On Tuesday morning he took his young daughter for a short drive down to the carpark of the Te Awanga beach’s surf break when he saw a small, dark mass playing in the waves.

Initially, seeing it at a distance, Farr assumed it was a surfer and didn’t pay too much attention to it until he went for a walk along the shoreline.

“Then it turned out to be a seal,” Farr said.

“It just popped up and then all of a sudden it was all on and it was just kind of surfing on the waves going back and forth.

“I’m just like, ‘oh my gosh, go buddy, go’ because I’ve never really thought that they actually catch waves and like continue on the waves for a while.”

Farr said after he left, one of his surfer friends went out and found themselves sharing waves with the seal.

“She said she was paddling for the wave and it popped up next to her, and it freaked her out.

“It kept on trying to catch the wave while she was trying to catch the wave, like they were kind of in tandem,” he said.

Farr has captured sperm whale and orca swimming off the Te Awanga and Haumoana coast, he’s even seen some of the local swans have a surf on the break, but he’s never seen a seal try it.

Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in Auckland, London, Berlin, and Napier.