Anyone have experience with extended sea lion encounters? We had an interesting dive today, and not quite sure how to judge the way an adult male sea lion was interacting with us...
About 15 minutes into the dive, I saw a sea lion swoop down on us. Normal for this time of year, 4th time for me in the last month. Usually they just dive bomb us then swim away, maybe come back for a second or third pass.
This guy wasn't having any of that though. He made 4-5 passes at the edge of our visibility (10 feet?), then started closing in, closer and closer. Eventually he was right in front of us and we were getting our fins nipped at, occassional light tail/fin brushes to the head, and he'd swim up behind us and bonk the tank. At times he'd hover within 2 feet or so, just looking at us mischievously for a few moments before swimming off and starting it all over again.
After about 10 minutes or so of him constantly toying with us, we'd had enough and decided to surface. We put up with him on our safety stop then swam for the shallows, but damn if he didn't start up again while we were on the surface! He'd patrol back and forth on the deep side of us, occasionally swimming underneath and bumping a tank, then backing off a distance and kind of standing up in the water - lifting about 1/3 of his body up while making noise at us. This continued for 5-10 minutes until we were in much shallower water.
Was he playing? Or was he protecting his territory / favorite hunting spot and trying to tell us to leave?
Buddy and I dive together a lot, and I know I wasn't worried about either one of us freaking out, but there were moments under there where both of us were starting to wonder what a sea lion bite would feel like and what sort of damage they could do!
Anyone have some insight? This is becoming more common and I'd like to have a better feel for what these critters are up to and what to watch out for.
Thanks!
-Brandon.
About 15 minutes into the dive, I saw a sea lion swoop down on us. Normal for this time of year, 4th time for me in the last month. Usually they just dive bomb us then swim away, maybe come back for a second or third pass.
This guy wasn't having any of that though. He made 4-5 passes at the edge of our visibility (10 feet?), then started closing in, closer and closer. Eventually he was right in front of us and we were getting our fins nipped at, occassional light tail/fin brushes to the head, and he'd swim up behind us and bonk the tank. At times he'd hover within 2 feet or so, just looking at us mischievously for a few moments before swimming off and starting it all over again.
After about 10 minutes or so of him constantly toying with us, we'd had enough and decided to surface. We put up with him on our safety stop then swam for the shallows, but damn if he didn't start up again while we were on the surface! He'd patrol back and forth on the deep side of us, occasionally swimming underneath and bumping a tank, then backing off a distance and kind of standing up in the water - lifting about 1/3 of his body up while making noise at us. This continued for 5-10 minutes until we were in much shallower water.
Was he playing? Or was he protecting his territory / favorite hunting spot and trying to tell us to leave?
Buddy and I dive together a lot, and I know I wasn't worried about either one of us freaking out, but there were moments under there where both of us were starting to wonder what a sea lion bite would feel like and what sort of damage they could do!
Anyone have some insight? This is becoming more common and I'd like to have a better feel for what these critters are up to and what to watch out for.
Thanks!
-Brandon.
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