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Boater who fell into Pacific Ocean helped by seal on his 5-hour swim back to safety

A sea urchin driver was stranded in the Pacific Ocean but was fortunately guided by a seal who helped him stay alive

A California man had a near-death experience after falling off his boat into the Pacific Ocean. He survived with the help of a harbor seal who guided him on his five-hour swim back to safety. This incident, which happened in late January 2022, is now going viral!

Scott Thompson, a sea urchin diver, plunged from his boat into the Santa Barbara Channel in the middle of the night. Thompson was in a hopeless scenario since he couldn't see the beach, which was miles away, and he was only wearing a T-shirt and shorts in the freezing coastal waters. He said, "I thought to myself, great, this is how I'm going to die. Today is the day I'm going to die." As he had left the boat’s engine on, it sped away from him. As he began to swim closer to it, it kept going farther and this is when he started panicking. Scott said, “And I just started swimming as hard as I could, towards the boat, and it really didn’t take too long to realize like, it’s getting farther, I’m not getting closer.” He realized it was a “pretty heavy situation” and all he could think about was his family and wanting to get back home. He said, “I was devastating myself, through my mind, just picturing my girls and my son growing up without me, and my wife, you know, not having a husband to support her.” This pushed him to swim and try to reach the boat somehow. But it kept going farther and farther out, making him feel like it was the end for him. But then, a seal popped up, changing his life.

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Scott said that all of a sudden, he heard a big splash. Scott imagined the worst and assumed it was a shark and felt his heart leap. But it was actually a seal that popped out of the water to give him the boost he needed to survive. He said, “Just then, a little seal popped its head out of the water right next to me, and looked at me like, 'Dude! What are you doing out here?'” This made him feel like his “best buddy” had arrived to give him the motivation to swim. After swimming for 5 hours, Scott finally reached an oil platform. He recalled the moment, saying, “It started getting brighter and I’m just like, I’m crying. And I’m like, shouting at the sky.” As soon as he arrived on the platform, he was given the first aid before he was sent to the hospital to treat his hypothermia.

Scott who got his life back thanks to the unexpected encounter with the seal wrote in a post, “I’m a believer that there is a higher power now. I don’t know what it is, but there is a power greater than me. That was shown to me and I will never doubt that for the rest of my life.” Twitter fans have also reacted to his story and have been sending him good wishes. One user wrote, "Wow, am happy for the survival soul.... God will keep His protection over you and your household”. Another user wrote, “Wow!  A seal! God was watching over him. I’m glad there was a happy ending.” If you want to help out Scott Thompson, check out his GoFundMe page to give him support in rebuilding his boat.