Underwater tale seals story prize

Peter Raison's story will be added to others collected from around the UK

A diver's surprise underwater meeting with a seal deep inside a pitch black Cornish cave has won the regional prize in a national story contest.

The National Seal Sanctuary at Gweek had appealed for stories about strange and unusual happenings at sea.

Peter Raison from Bude won the prize for the tale of his encounter with the grey seal, resting on an underwater rock within a cave near Boscastle.

His story will now be judged with other regional winners for a national prize.

The way he relayed the story also made it gripping from start to finish Tamara Cooper, Cornwall Seal Sanctuary

Mr Raison and a regular dive buddy decided to explore a cave which had its entrance 10m (32.8ft) below the water line.

When the cave narrowed to 1.5m (4.9ft) across - and the pair were about 62m (203ft) in - Mr Raison said he was "astonished" to see what he had first assumed to be large grey rock in front of him suddenly move.

"It rose up from the sand and casually swam up to me and stopped nose to nose," he said.

He went on to describe how the seal then swam further into the cave, and then back again, pausing while Peter flattened himself against the side to allow it to pass.

A little further in Mr Raison discovered a small air pocket, which he assumed the seal must have used before resuming its underwater slumber on a submerged sandy shelf.

National prize

Seals have long fired the imagination of storytellers. Many Celtic folktales feature Selchies, magical seal-people who can shed their skin and take human form.

The Gweek sanctuary's seal expert Tamara Cooper said that many Cornish grey seals actually breed in such caves.

"But Peter was not aware of that, and his encounter was so far in it would have been notable anyway.

"The way he relayed the story also made it gripping from start to finish, he's a very worthy winner," said Ms Cooper.

Other sanctuaries and sea life centres taking part attracted many more sea stories including the discovery of a body which turned out to be a mannequin in scuba gear off Northumberland.

Mr Raison's story will be judged alongside other regional entries for an overall national prize of £500.