Let’s get one thing straight right away: seals are adorable.

Even scientists agree. “Pretty much anything they do is cute,” admits Leanna Matthews, a seal biologist at the University of Syracuse.

So when these kayakers encountered a gray seal while exploring the Firth of Forth, an estuary on Scotland’s eastern coast, it’s understandable that their reaction was one of delight and a desire to prolong the experience. After following the group for about a mile, the seal eventually took its investigation one step farther, and—undaunted by a few fumbles—hauled itself up several times to balance on the group’s rafted kayaks. (Learn how to safely photograph wild animals.)

“Initially I was nervous. It being a wild animal, you never