I Can Now Die A Happy Woman: An Otterific Encounter

“Just kill me now,” I enthusiastically announced to Earl yesterday on our drive back home over the Golden Gate Bridge, “because I have now seen an otter in the wild, and life is just never going to get better than that!”

Yep.  Yesterday afternoon, after my 12-mile run at Rodeo Beach,

WE SAW A RIVER OTTER SWIMMING IN THE LAGOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I repeat,

I SAW AN OTTER!!

An otter!!  A real live river otter, in the wild!!

Now, that might not be that exciting to some of you, dear readers… but to me… that is like- the apex of my entire life.

I have been smitten with river otters since my days as a high school dweeb, and even decorated my freshman dorm room in college with otter posters and photos.  I’ve been to every aquarium on the eastern seaboard which has river otter exhibits, some multiple times.  In fact, I’ve snuggled with an otter stuffed animal for years (only about four years ago it got too worn out and was replaced with a welsh corgi stuffie).

Most importantly, “seeing river otters in the wild” has been a critical item on my list of Life Goals (see Item #78).  To accomplish this, I had been planning a trip waaaaay up into the upstate NY wilderness to “potentially” see some river otters with this guy, however he repeatedly stressed there were no guarantees we would see any river otters, as they are nocturnal and skittish.  Amusingly enough, here was the email I sent him a few years ago (hee, gmail search function):

Hello,
> I came across your webpage http://www.geocities.com/bobarnebeck/nys.html and
> wanted to let you know I really enjoyed it.
> I am a big river otter fan, I love seeing them in zoos and have been
> collecting otter paraphernalia for years.  I was wondering how to see otters
> in the wild, and where I could go to see some?  It truly is a life-long
> dream
> Also, I was wondering if you had some additional resources to point me in the right direction of
> learning more about otters. > Thank you so much! > Courtney

Well, fortunately because we now live plum across the country making a visit to Wellesley Island, NY a large endeavor, I no longer have to take that trip because, as I’ve zestfully thrice stated:

I HAVE SEEN AN OTTER IN THE WILD!!!

And, I captured some photos   Here is how it happened:

I was well underway of my 12-mile trail run yesterday in the Marin Headlands while Earl sat in the car reading math books and chilling with Linus.  I was about 5 miles out on the pink loop (where Bobcat trail meets Marincello) when I feel my phone vibrate in my camelbak with a text message.  Because E and I had agreed to keep in contact about every hour or so (worried about me getting lost or hurt), I pulled my phone out to check.

“Saw otter in water”

it read.  I stopped dead in my tracks.  My harried response text was something along the lines of “omg!!! otter!!! omgomgomgomgomgOTTER!!!!!!!!AHHHHHHomgotter” and I remember being very pissed that I was just about exactly halfway out and there was no way to get back immediately.  I considered pressing for details, however Earl is staunchly laconic in texts (I think it’s part of the mathematician personality- focused, exacting and to the point, does not like to bothered to write anything lengthy.  I also entertain the theory that it’s tough to use the tiny keyboard with his big fingers )

Because Earl is sitting here next to me in bed as I write this, I have asked him to share with us his first-person otter sighting account:

“Well, I was sitting in the car, which was facing the river.  I had just woken up from a nap.  I kicked Linus off my lap because he had been drooling on my arm, and then I noticed something sticking up out of the water.  I watched it; it submerged I saw a sliding window into the shape of a body as it dove.  I thought “what the fuck is that?” and as I watched, it happened again and again.  Then I got out of the car and walked over to the river to have a closer look.  I saw it was an otter.  It kind of looked like a beaver, but beavers have different tails, and once you got close enough, you could tell it’s clearly an otter.  So right after I realized it was an otter, I texted you.  I was worried you would quit your run and sprint back as quickly as you could go.  I thought about taking a picture of it, but you had the camera in your backpack.

Haha, of COURSE the first thing that crossed my mind once getting that text was dropping my run and huffing back as fast as I could.  I have a lifetime to run, and seeing an otter might just be a once-in-a-lifetime chance.  However, there was no shortcut back!  So, I finished the run in a completely agitated, “OMGOTTEROMG, there is an otter” state, and made it to the car.

When I arrived back, the otter was sadly nowhere to be seen, so had to make do with grilling Earl for details.  We took Linus to play and romp on the beach for about forty five minutes and had a lot of fun.  Lo and behold, as we were grabbing our shoes and heading back to the car, “Courtney!” Earl grabs my arm, “look over there!”  The otter was back!!

And, I saw him!!  I saw him swimming around!  Diving!  Playing!  Being cute!  Being otterly!  Doing otter things!

And, I took pictures of him!  Here they are to share with you!

This is where he was when we first saw him, walking back from the beach

initial otter sighting

Just his head peaking out (not zoomed or cropped)

head peaking out

Barely zoomed

barely zoomed

Looking like and eel, almost

eel? no, otter

Check out those chompers!

you can see his teeth!

Another close up

close up

Diving under

couldn't resist the submarine lingo

And, to document this euphoric encounter I simply had to get a photo on Le Bridge de Otter, despite feeling gross and worn out from my mega run

Le Bridge de Otter

I pestered Earl with my otter excitement prettymuch the entire way home.  “Can you believe we really saw an otter???!”  With dinner, we opened a great bottle of wine and shared many toasts to OtterEncounter 2009!