A lone seal came in for a leisurely swim in the Waimapu estuary this morning – and even stopped by for a meal.

The seal was first spotted by a SunLive reader at about 8.40am with them calling the 0800 SUNLIVE news tip line to report their find.

A lone seal enjoyed an early morning swim.

Making its way around the estuary, the seal swam towards a small crowd gathered to watch it on the Harini Causeway Bridge, before swimming back out into the estuary.

Spectators described the seal as bigger than a pup and say it had a large eel in its mouth.

Tauranga resident Rodney Vollaire says he rarely sees seals and especially not in this part of the city.

He says the seal swam around the bridge for at least 20 minutes and appeared to be quite unaware of the attention.

A couple of kayakers also took to the water to get closer to the seal's activities and followed it around the estuary.

The seal in the estuary by Rodney Voullaire from MyTelco.