'Oh, we're scouting for large sea creatures. I can pick something with good hearing, but I don't want to capsize the boat. Oh, well, time to throw up a protection spell, jump in freezing water and swim clear.'

(If Ilphyl can stand 6 seconds in the water without protection before wild-shaping, they can recast the spell on Donnie. Or they can wait until Donnie comes out of the water.)

I mean, Link is still the most feral member of the Crimson Corsairs, but Link sets a hgih bar.

ON second thought, maintaining the spell is probably necessary for Ilphyl to get out of the water, short of beaching themselves.

...ngl my first thought in response to this
was ‘Link sees nothing weird about any of this’ XD