A Kapiti Island tour guide says the sight of young seals visiting the bay his family's owned for nearly two centuries was "extra special", after days discussing the need to protect its ecology.
In delightful footage from Saturday morning, a herd of seals can be seen swarming around Manaaki Barrett as he and a number of guests were preparing to leave the island.
Mr Barrett's ancestors arrived on Kapiti Island, situated off the west coast of the lower North Island, in 1822. He now owns a small piece of land in Waiorua Bay with his family - and helps run nature tours on the island, hosting tourists at their whare.
Mr Barrett says despite being familiar with a seal colony in the area, he has never seen the marine mammals in such numbers before.
"We were just getting ready to board the ferry and leave the island when the group of seals came storming towards us with what seemed like a real sense of purpose," Mr Barrett explained.
"Initially we thought it was a pod of dolphins, which would have been great too - but realising it was a group of young seals acting in a way we hadn't seen before was awesome.
"There's a seal colony around the corner from us so it's not unusual for seals to be in the bay, and to see them swimming quickly like that is normal when they're chasing a fish or late for lunch - but not in a group in formation like they were."
He said while he liked to think the seals were farewelling his guests, he got the impression that it was a group of juvenile seals who'd evaded their chaperone and were keen to go on an adventure.
"Seals can be really curious and intelligent, and this group seemed bold and confident in numbers. We were probably as much of an entertaining novelty to them as they were to us," he said.
Mr Barrett says the visit from the seal herd was "a buzz" as the group they'd just hosted had been talking for days about preserving the island's ecology.
"It was extra special as we had Dame Anne Salmond with us, who's filming a show about the responsibilities we have to look after our taonga [highly prized natural resources]," he said.
"She'd stayed with us on Kapiti Island for a couple of days to talk about the island's role as a nature reserve in preserving our ecological heritage, and our whānau's experience here."
Mr Barrett says it's not the first time he's had extraordinary experiences with the island's wildlife - and was happy the message of the trip was able to be bookended with such a beautiful moment.
"The island has a way of surprising us with special encounters, and this seemed like a really cool farewell to our manuhiri [guests]."
Newshub.
