The driver of a Halifax Harbour taxi did a double take two weeks ago when he spotted furry, pointy ears sticking out of the water near Casino Nova Scotia.

"I had noticed something peculiar floating in the water," said John McArthur, who works for King's Wharf water taxi. "And last time I checked, seals don't have any ears."

As he got closer, he realized it wasn't a seal at all.

King's Wharf water taxi driver John McArthur snapped this shot of a deer he spotted swimming in Halifax Harbour two weeks ago. (John McArthur)

A rare find

"I was pretty amazed and taken aback, so I decided to follow the deer on its journey," he told CBC News on Sunday.

He says Canadian Coast Guard saw what he was doing and radioed his water taxi and asked for confirmation.

"They said it was very rare," he said, adding they told him it's only happened once or twice in the last two decades. In those cases, the deer swam from Point Pleasant Park to McNabs Island.

'Quite the journey'

John McArthur followed the deer in his water taxi from Casino Nova Scotia, across the harbour to NSCC's Waterfront Campus. (CBC)

Thinking of the deer crossing major shipping lanes, and of busy weekend harbour traffic, McArthur stayed with his "new furry little friend" as it swam.

It made it all the way to land near the Nova Scotia Community College Waterfront Campus. It was "quite the journey for the fella," McArthur said.

"It was pretty tired and tuckered out. Once it washed up ashore, effectively it was shaking and cold and battling with the slippery rocks. I just hung around until it got up on land safely."