I think it's a pretty good or interesting photo as is. The intriguing part of the photo is the interplay between the ship and the seals. Unfortunately, either the seals are too far away from the ship to show interest or you can't see the detail in the seal faces. Had one been standing with their head up looking at the ship the purpose for the ship in the photo would have been clear. Otherwise, there isn't a lot of purpose to the ship and you can't make the correllation between the two subjects.
I like the rocks and contrast between the black rocks and the blue water. A shot with just the seals where you could see their face or an expression would have been great. As you have to be on a boat changing perspective is difficult. I see where you were going with the photo and you came very close to pulling it off. This is one of these issues where you may snap off 200 photos of that composition and you hope 1 has the seals doing something interesting in one of the shots. Thank god for digital.
Setting wise you did perfect. You got the detail in the seals and the picture isn't really blown out. The ship is slightly overexposed but you have to to get your main subject, the seals, in correct exposure. A slightly higher aperture of like f16 may have kept the seals and the boat if sharp focus. As is, the boat is just slightly out of focus. Not enough to worry much though.
We can always nitpick a picture after the fact. I like this shot as is really.
