THE Bridgewater Bay Cafe near Portland has a great crowd pleaser that is keeping customers coming despite the wintry weather.
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Diners at the bayside cafe are being entertained by fur seals leaping and frolicking only a short distance away.
Cafe co-proprietor Deb Curtis said the fur seals had this year come close to the shore after previously hanging out mainly at a seal colony about 2.5 kilometres away near the tip of Cape Bridgewater.
She said the seals’ lively antics over the past few weeks had attracted numerous visitors to the Bridgewater Bay Cafe.
Joe Austin, who leads sea tours to the seal colony, said the seals’ move closer to the beach might be linked to the big growth in the colony’s population.
He said the colony’s numbers had increased from 600 18 years ago to its present level of about 2500.
The Cape Bridgewater seal colony is the largest on the Australian mainland.