Natural History Wanderings

BayNature reports

In September, a surfer named Nick Ericksen was catching some waves at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz when a creature emerged from the depths and grabbed his board. To his relief, the creature wasn’t a shark, but a cute, fluffy sea otter. And this otter had an agenda. In a video of the encounter captured by a shoreside onlooker, Ericksen relinquishes the board to the sea otter and struggles to get it back. The otter curls up on Ericksen’s board and, like a true Santa Cruz local, proceeds to ride a few waves.

Read more at Santa Cruz’s Surfboard-Stealing Otter Remains at Large (For Now)