Sometimes there's value in setting a wild goal, even if you don't really think there's a chance of reaching it.
Photographer Justin Hofman (@justinhofman) provided some of the latest proof of this when sharing what he characterized in the caption of a social media post as "quite likely the first-ever underwater photographs" of an elusive Ross seal.
One snapshot shows the seal, with its signature big eyes, staring directly into the camera. In other photos, the animal's distinctive dark stripes are on display as it swims through the ocean.
Videographer and fellow passenger Ayla Townsend (@aylatownsend) captured moving images of the moment and shared them online as well.
As People noted, Ross seals are the smallest and rarest members of the Antarctic true seal family. Due to their remote habitat, little is known about them.
Hofman himself doubted that spotting them underwater was in the cards. He'd only seen one of the seals ever, and it was on the ice pack.
"In 15 seasons of working in Antarctica, I have only seen two Ross seals, and this is the second one," he noted in the caption of his post.
Still, when he learned that nobody had photographed them underwater, Hofman made it a moonshot goal.
"I never thought that it was an actual possibility because these animals are so rarely seen and are generally so far south," he wrote.
A trip further south than he'd ever been on the National Geographic Resolution opened up unforeseen possibilities. The species breeds and molts in areas south of 60 degrees south latitude, according to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition.
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Save $1,000 this year 💸 Not only do they frequent hard-to-reach areas, but the animals are also often solitary wanderers who will try to evade humans. With all that in mind, it's no surprise that Hofman was over the moon about his good fortune.
"Well, Christmas came a little early this year," Hofman wrote.
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