I went up to Ventura for a surf trip during my time out in SD. I was actually at Port Hueneme's beach not far from Surfer's Beach. I was the only one out, my future wife was on the beach, and a seal pup popped up right next to me. I mean he was right next to me, 5 feet. I remember thinking, this is cute, never been this close to one of these guys. I was about to wave to my lady when I suddenly realized there was a report in the news where a lady had recently been killed by a shark while she was swimming with seals a little south in LA County, the weekend before. I went in and asked the future wife if she wanted to go eat or something. Waves weren't that good anyway, I told myself.LOL
As far as Stennis goes, I've never seen really big ones in the river, maybe 4-5 ft max. We've caught them with 550 and hot dogs. The really big ones are in the ponds that are scattered around the area. I remember seeing one that was like in the old scary alligator movies. The civilian, frmr SEAL, that runs the area said there were gators in the upper teens. I believe the big one I saw may have been the monster they talk about being the biggest. I thought it was a tree floating in the water at first. You don't really think of it much during training, on swims it's on your mind but not a threat due to the safety boats. A couple good blasts down the swim route will intimidate them.