Visitors 45
Modified 18-Dec-14
Created 18-Dec-14
0 photos
What fun!
We tied up to a buoy, jumped into the water, and swam out. Fish, coral. Then the sea lion pups discovered us. Time to play! They gamboled around us, coming straight at us, flipping beneath, blowing bubbles, frisking. I tried to respond with some moves of my own -- totally inadequate, of course. They are masters of the watery environment -- I felt like a blob. After a while they gave up on us, and pulled back to show us what they could do. Flipping, leaping out of the water, a pair turning over head to tail, head to tail, up and down... such fun! It was great sharing the water with them: I love them.
They came back a few times to see if we wanted to play some more. I was taking a photo, and felt whiskers on my hand: I got a photo of a sea-lion nose. Once, I felt some large jaws close over my calf -- I didn't know their mouths were so big! This was just a playful nip, no skin broken, just a nice hello from behind.
All of these photos are uncropped, no zoom, my wide-angle underwater camera. They came close! There was no question of us bothering them; they ruled the water, and could approach or withdraw at will.
These pups have known visiting snorkelers forever, as have their parents. It feels totally safe and friendly. It is great that apparently nobody feeds them; there was no begging or expectation of reward, other than companionship and fun. The area around Los Islotes is a preserve, no fishing, lots of food there for the taking.
We were at Los Islotes, some tiny islands off the northern tip of Isla Espiritu Santo in the Gulf of California (aka by some northerners as the Sea of Cortez). On a two-week sailing trip out of La Paz, in a 41-foot ketch. This was the highlight of the trip, for me.