With a bit of a nudge, a seal video appears to have gone viral for the Isle of Man

What’s better than a video of a cute seal acting like an excitable puppy? After the experiences of this week, the Isle of Man Tourism team here at Hope&Glory will tell you, not a lot.

We knew we’d struck gold when we came across an adorable video,l belonging to a local diving school on the Island. Especially when we found out that the diver in the video, 15 year old Jamie Gallagher, was on his first ever dive.

Like a dog excited to see its master, a wild grey seal is seen wrapping its fins around a diver’s legs, whilst pawing and nuzzling at him.

It turned out, as we suspected, that we weren’t the only fans of this footage.

Since featuring in the Metro, Daily Telegraph, ITV, AOL and on BBC North West Tonight, CBBC Newsround, BBC Breakfast, on good old Daily Mail Online and across the pond on Good Morning America (yes, really), and being named Steve Wright’s viral video of the day on BBC Radio 2, young Jamie and Discover Diving owner Michelle Haywood have turned into local celebrities.

But more importantly, the Isle of Man is just a little bit more firmly on the map as one of the best diving sports in the British Isles.

Just goes to show that you don’t always need a big budget to make a big splash, and on this occasion it was a good spot and a quick turnaround that won the day.