Seals.

Sometimes they beach where you can get to them. We most often find them on Chatham's Lighthouse Beach, and we came upon a big haulout there in September of '09.

You can't get too close, although there's almost always some goofball who thinks you ought to be able to walk up and pet them and is compelled to try. At sixty feet they're watchful, at fifty feet they're stirring, and at forty feet they're oinking and snuffling and talking to one another and heading for the water. To say they're not graceful on land is an understatement to say the least--think five-hundred-pound newborn, or maybe me on the dance floor. It ain't pretty. But they instantly turn into ballerinas in the water.

This guy IS laughing, right?

As you might guess, Sandi has to be dragged away kicking and screaming. She'd stand there talking to them until the incoming tide surprised her by washing over her head.