This friendly seal was in a playful mood as it waved to a passing coastguard team on a weekly training exercise.
The repeated greeting was caught on camera by Howth Coast Guard as it conducted a session in Dublin Bay.
The @IrishCoastGuard boat from Howth had a visitor while on a training exercise in #Dublin bay yesterday. #dublinbay #seal #CoastGuard pic.twitter.com/QHgjjyjhEv
— Howth Coast Guard (@howthcoastguard) August 29, 2017
The super cute footage, shared on the coastguard’s Twitter and Facebook page, attracted hundreds of likes, retweets and shares.
Donnchadh Mac Cobb, 31, from Dublin, was taking part in the training on Monday evening outside Howth Harbour.
He said: “We’d just completed a few search patterns and stopped to debrief. We hear a noise and there was this big fella sitting in the water right beside us.
“One of the fellas says we should head off and waved at him and then he waved back.
“I’m completely guessing but with the amount of people on the pier and kids waving down on them then there might be a bit of imitation going on.”
People couldn’t resist having some fun with the video.
You got a real 'seal' of approval there 😁👏🏽
— Leinster Open Sea (@LeinsterOpenSea) August 29, 2017
After a quick conversation his exception to the lifejacket rules was given the seal of approval and he was sent on his way… #StayAfloat https://t.co/cMCvIv0hQv
— Irish Coast Guard (@IrishCoastGuard) August 29, 2017
The coastguard’s video is not the first time the seals of Howth Harbour have been catapulted into fame.
One seal who likes to wave at tourists and boats, has his own Facebook page under the name “Sammy the Howth Harbour Seal“.
Pictures of a seal known as “Cheery Charlie” circulated in 2011. He waved to encourage tourists to throw their fish treats to him over rivals, according to a Daily Mail report.