What was that sound??

Last month, one of our dock neighbors told us about a woman who lost her small dog to a river otter... the story was: it jumped up on the dock and snatched the pooch.  Since then, Joan made a new rule: Izzy can only be outside the boat when she is on the leash.  Prior to that, we were letting her walk on the finger dock by our boat by herself when she wanted.

We were sitting out in the cockpit after work and heard a bubbling noise right at the side of the hull, next to the dock.  Then, splashing right under the dock... and a high-pitched growling sound.  Was that Popeye (the one-eyed seal)?  Nope - Joan went out on the dock and saw a river otter swimming away.

Oh, and Izzy had been right at the edge of the cockpit, looking to investigate what was making that noise... guess the lock-down continues.

Five years ago, two river otters boarded our boat while we were in Bell Harbor in Seattle - they made one hell of a racket and weren't the least bit intimidated when I went out.  They were on top of our boat, then ran across the dock and onto the next boat, I assume looking for food.

We haven't told Izzy why she doesn't get to go out on the dock by herself - don't want to give her nightmares.