Harald thought he was whistling at a seal. Then the animal looked up at him.

Less than 2 hours ago

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Harald Nesse was just about to take a quick trip with the boat and clear the battle, when he saw a spherical “rock” down a slope.

– I had never seen it before, I thought. I was a little curious if it could be a copper or a seal.

He drove even closer, and tried to whistle at it from 20-30 meters. At first, there were no signs of life, he says.

– Suddenly it stood up with its head, and you saw the big tusks that came out. Then there was a search in me, says Nesse.

He has never seen anything like it before, he says.

He met the walrus on the west side of Bømlo on Maundy Thursday, on the southern tip of eastern Klekjesteinen.

– Sometimes you can meet copper or seals here, but that is rarely the case either.

Recommend going and seeing

Kees Oscar Ekeli, marine biologist and former director of the Aquarium in Bergen, can tell that walruses are very good swimmers who “travel around as they please”.

A couple of times a year, they end up along the Norwegian coast, he says.

– They are very lucky in Bømlo who have had such a great guy visit, says Ekeli.

He says walruses sometimes stay, usually a week or two. This is probably a female walrus with no female.

– The mating season is over the longest. Cubs will probably be born soon. It is probably back in the territory where the ladies live in good time until the next mating season. Then it goes north again.

Ekeli asks the bømloværingers to enjoy it as long as the walrus stays, and recommends everyone to go out to look at it, with one important reservation:

– You should keep a safe distance of 30 meters. The big guys are incredibly fast. Not so much on land, but in water it’s crazy. Even kayaks and ribs should keep their distance.

The bear of the sea

In recent days, there has been a much-discussed small male walrus in the Oslo Fjord. Ekeli goes so far as to suggest that the walrus in Western Norway is a better sight.

– This is a big male on a trip. The one in Oslo is just a tiny little boy.

Ekeli, who is currently director of Bjørneparken in Flå, can otherwise tell that walruses are the bear of the sea.

– The walrus is also an altar. It eats everything from meat to shells, all that sort of thing. It eats everything, and so does the bear.