I like your scenario. Especially the part about the Pulitzer but I'd even settle for a full page in National Geographic. However, being a coward at heart, I'd probably be shooting from a boat and would have to fish the camera and lens out of the sea.
My Seal example was an extreme example to demonstrate the point. But there are many, many similar - but maybe not quite as extreme - cases where the tone of the subject is outside the bounds typically used by Evaluative (Matrix, or whatever your brand camera calls it) meter mode resulting in the meter mode weighing the stuff around the real subject stronger than it weighs the subject. A lone sea lion on the beach. Someone sitting on curb lit by a single street lamp with no light hitting the background and surrounding area. A wildflower hanging on in a sand dune. Washed up iceberg on the black sand beach in Iceland. The list goes on and is quite a common occurance when you really need a longer lens but don't have one handy so you shoot knowing that an agressive crop will be coming along later. But, the Camera does not know this and the Evaluative mode pays too much attention to the 90% of the image that is not the subject. This is a good time to use spot, or expanded spot to get the subject more properly exposed without being skewed as much by the surroundings. I even go to CWA (Center Weighted Average) if I want the Auto Exposure to not totally blow out the snow or totally block up dark surroundings.
But, to be honest, I do normally shoot in Eavluative Meter Mode but I also usually bracket +/- 2 stops to counteract the meter mode getting it wrong.