Suzan Hasanli had checked cave after cave along the Cornish coast and found nothing.
One last look changed everything.
The University of Warwick student had gone to Polly Joke Beach hoping to see a seal or two, possibly none.
READ MORE: Scientists found a creature six miles underwater that doesn’t match ANYTHING known to science
The weather had other ideas, and so did the coastline, which offered up empty cave after empty cave until she and her friend decided to call it a day.
Almost.
One last cave
“We had checked several caves without seeing any seals and were actually about to head back, but decided to try one last cave,” she said.
“That’s when we found them all.”
All, in this case, meant around 40 seals gathered in a single hidden cave, swimming, sliding around and repeatedly approaching each other like a group that had known one another for years.
Suzan said they looked like “best friends”.
“I saw around 40 seals at once, which was incredible,” she said.
“I remember standing there in complete silence, staring because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”
She knew seals used the cave. She had not expected a convention.
Playing through the storm
The conditions were, by her account, miserable. The seals disagreed.
“The weather was awful – extremely windy, rainy, and cold, with rough waves crashing against the shore – but the seals seemed to be having the time of their lives, constantly swimming through the waves and playing with each other,” she said.
Suzan watched for around half an hour as the group split its time between the cave and the open water.
At one point a large cluster appeared to bounce out of the cave together and head for the sea, while others hung back, apparently weighing up whether to bother.
She called it “very funny to watch”.
Nobody else was there apart from her friend, which made the whole thing feel less like a tourist attraction and more like trespassing on a private party.
“Being able to observe them so closely, without barriers or enclosures, made the experience feel truly special,” she said.
“I was extremely happy and felt very lucky to witness it. I still feel the same way since.”
‘No thoughts just boing boing’
Her video of the encounter went on to rack up more than 925,000 views, 188,000 likes and 445 comments, where the internet processed the footage in its own way.
“Big ahh slugs,” offered one viewer.
“Just out here bloopin and blorpin,” said another.
A third settled on “sea puppy’s awh”, while a commenter named Charlotte summed up the entire clip with “no thoughts just boing boing”.
The near-miss makes it better.
“I almost didn’t go because of the weather, but I’m so glad I did because it turned into one of the most memorable wildlife experiences I’ve ever had,” Suzan said.
Why It Matters
Wildlife content remains one of the most reliably viral formats online, and this clip shows why the unplanned version keeps beating the produced one.
No drone shots, no narration, no strategy. Just a phone, terrible weather and 40 seals having a better day than everyone watching.
For creators, it’s a reminder that the algorithm still rewards genuine discovery over polish, and that some of the biggest wildlife accounts started with exactly this kind of accidental hit.
Nature content has been quietly booming across short-form platforms, with British coastal wildlife proving a particular favourite among audiences who may never actually visit it.
Whether Suzan follows the clip with more, or lets it stand as a one-off, nearly a million people now know there’s a cave in Cornwall worth checking.
The seals, presumably, would rather they didn’t.
READ MORE: I travelled eight hours for a birthday sloth visit – then my boyfriend got down on one KNEE
