Anyone seen this guy at Shaw's?

[JodiBB]

That's great!! Labor Day Weekend 2006, I took a morning to dive as well in Laguna. Suddenly I tart screaming "OMG!" through my reg when I saw a dark-colored bullet whiz by my peripheral vision. I wasn't sure what I saw until it returned...a sealion decided to stop by and play with us.

He was so curious, he left and brought back a friend! They played with us for a while. The friend left, but the original sealion followed us back to shore as we surfaced swam back (I ran through my air screaming "OMG" at first!)....it was my first experience swimming in the wild with such wonderful creatures...

I love to get every opportunity I can to do it...

 

[livewire]

Thanks for the compliments and the confirmation Ann Marie. Got an email from someone else who's seen her too.

Oh yeah, it's a girl! I reviewed my other pictures and found no belly button or penile hole, so from the looks of it, our little friend is a she. Apparently she doesn't come out just for night dives either, as the first shot above was taken at 10:46am Christmas Day. Maybe scaring the bejeezus out of me was just the kind of gift she needed on Christmas morning!

And btw, Fish Whisperer, thanks for your compliments and glad you enjoyed it!

 

[Missdirected]

That last shot is awesome. What a fantastic experience. Are you planning on cleaning that last shot up some? I think it would look great cropped and a lil closer in. Either way, wish I had been you that day

 

[J.A.S.]

seen him/her at north laguna on a night dive. scared the wits out of me at first glance. After playing a round of hide and seek, he was using our lights to hunt. very playful!

 

[shoupart]

I saw a very friendly and curious harbor seal a couple years back over at Crescent Cove, and he was tagged. It was so cool- it was during a night dive, and whenever we'd shine a light on a fish, he'd dart right in and snarf it down.

 

[ScubaBob92651]

Thanks for the correction and the link, ScubaBob. I'll go sign up for that one!

No worries. What camera/housing are you using in your new rig? I think I have video of this seal here.

 

[livewire]

Thanks for the link, ScubaBob, that video is great. Judging from the size, location, and demeanor, I think that's her!

My "new" camera/housing is an old 5MP Olympus 5060 with Light and Motion Tetra 5000 housing (the one with the ROC) and single Sea & Sea YS-90 strobe. Those pics were shot with the L&M wide angle lens. I've been shooting with the Oly C-4000/L&M housing with dual Ike strobes for a few years and gotten some great images over that time, but I saw this rig on eBay a few weeks ago and took advantage of a great deal. For my first day of shooting with it, I was pleased with the results.

P.S. Your other vids are great, too!

 

[Bruce3]

A buddy of mine from work was getting his AOW night dive done at shaw's so me and another coworker tagged along for the dive. The first encounter was when it came from behind us knocking us out of the way to get to some fishes. It scared the bejesus out of us and knocked my octo out of its holder and started free flowing. For the rest the of the dive it was swimming inches below me so close i wanted to just give it a hug hahaa. But yeah that seal is awesome.

 

[Bobyjimmie]

Yeah one was recent in the last couple months it was mine, he was so playful and then laid on his back letting us pet and scratch his belly. Did you have a strobe on your camera? They are supposedly really attracted to the shiney bauble looking strobe. Great experience huh?

 

[livewire]

Yes, had the strobe on the camera. Wasn't really sure what she was attracted to, but she definitely had no issues with getting up in my mug and no issues with me touching her. I was pushing her back square in the middle of her chest really gently and she just stared me straight in the eye and grasped my wrist with her flippers as I did it. I probably could have pet her a lot more, but wasn't 100% sure of her intentions. All told I think she was trying to impress me and mock my lackluster swimming ability.