An Aussie photographer has made a remarkable discovery after zooming into his image of what he described as a “10-metre high” wave crashing onto a rock in Victoria.
Allen McCauley recalled there was a “hell of a crashing sound” below as he snapped a series of pictures near Portland’s Cape Nelson Lighthouse on Victoria’s far southwest coast.
So grand was the spectacle that he didn’t notice a key detail at the bottom of the frame — a fur seal breaching the surface.
“I didn’t even see him in the photo until I got home later,” he told Yahoo News.
“At first, I thought there was a bit of dirt on my phone. I tried wiping it off, and then I thought it might have been a bird.
“So I blew it up a bit and realised it was a seal – it was a surprise.”
Zooming in, McCauley could see the seal gracefully arching his back moments before he was swallowed by the wave.
Second picture shows seal facing giant wave
A second picture, taken a heartbeat before, shows the animal staring at the approaching wall of water.
“He did a little jump, but I don’t think he realised the backwash from the wave was going to be as big as that,” he said.
“That’s the highest I’ve seen a wave in that particular position.”
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A second picture, taken a moment earlier, shows the seal staring at the wave before it broke.
(Allen McCauley)
The seal gracefully jumps as the wave approaches.
(Allen McCauley)
Portland is home to permanent colonies of Australian and New Zealand fur seals, and is regularly visited by a Southern elephant seal named “Sammy”.
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During the winter, wildlife photographers stand on the clifftops, watching the migrating whales, including humpbacks, southern wrights and even gigantic blues.
Orcas are also regularly seen in Portland’s waters. In 2023, the pod famously killed and decapitated a 4.7-metre-long white shark.
“It’s a pretty fantastic place for wildlife,” McCauley said.
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