The surfing community of Santa Cruz, California celebrates the novel Juneteenth Festival in a special manner. Every year since the federal holiday was declared in 2021, locals organize a surf-out. On the day, the Cowell Beach in Monterey Bay witnesses several surfers breaking out their boards, and swarming to the sea in groups.

This year’s Juneteenth Festival had a similar schedule all panned out, with people paddling out to the sea on their surfboards. However, the annual paddle-out took a bit of an interesting turn as some unexpected guests also joined in the celebration, leaving the surfers stunned.

Surfing takes an unusual stance at Cowell Beach

The surf-out at Cowell Beach, also known as the Liberation Paddle Out, is hosted annually by the ocean-justice nonprofit, Black Surf Santa Cruz. This year, the event started like any other. However, as soon as the surfers reached the open waters, the strangest thing happened – a sea otter approached the group.

The otter’s intentions were clear, it wanted to ride a surfboard, maybe even be the next Kelly Slater. The surfers could do little but oblige to its request. According to a Tweet by Native Santa Cruz, the otter tried on several surfboards before settling for a bright blue one. The surfers trying to get away from the cute yet carnivorous mammal created a buzz and as a result, several onlookers gathered on the coast to witness this uncommon sight.

As Juneteenth was declared a federal holiday to celebrate the fall of slavery in Galveston, Texas, the African-Americans, other people of color, and supporters of the community gather on the beach and flock to the water to create a big circle. There is music, food, and just the members of the community mingling with each other, embracing, and telling stories. It was during the formation of the circle when the otter approached and everything went helter-skelter. This is not the first time that a surfing excursion has been hijacked by these adorable-looking mammals.

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It’s the world of otters, we’re just living in it

Usually, shark encounters are more prevalent in the ocean. However, it’s rare to hear about otters chasing humans in the sea. According to a report by KTLA 5 News, back in 2022, a similar incident took place, and coincidentally, this one happened in Santa Cruz as well. Sea otters are endangered mammals and are not considered to be dangerous to humans if left alone. The otters, though, might cause some trouble for us humans.

On September 14, 2022, Chad Underhill-Meras was surfing with his friend, when the strangest thing happened. An otter took over his friend’s surfboard and refused to get off of it. Despite the splashes of water that the otter was subjected to, it seemed like the sea animal had found its favorite toy and was not willing to let it go. Finally, with the help of some other surfers, Chad’s friend was able to get his board back, and no one got hurt. At this point, it would not be an exaggeration to say that perhaps otters are secretly master surfers.

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