Re: [Paddlewise] sea lions

Doug Lloyd wrote:
<SNIP>>>>>>In true asinine style, I road the surge clean over a frontal
reef area into a large pool of water, about the diameter of two kayak
lengths with no visible egress.<<<<<<SNIP>

Doug, I wonder if this wasn't the same "pool" in the sea lion rocks, just
west of Wouwer Island, that Joel Rogers found himself in the incident
described in Chapter 7 of "Deep Trouble".

Once, years ago when I was paddling solo near Strawberry Island in Rosario
Strait, a huge bull sea lion surfaced right behind me and let out a loud
snort. I about jumped out of my kayak just from the surprise sound. Before
turning around to look, all I could imagine was that a whale had surfaced
behind me and suddenly exhaled. Upon turning around I saw the huge head of a
bull Sea Lion. He had his mouth wide open in a big yawn. I could see that
his jaws were so big that it would have been easy for me to stick my whole
head in his mouth like a lion trainer in a circus. I judged the upper fangs
to be at least 3" long. Maybe that's why they call them sea LIONS, I
couldn't see much difference in the dentition. I was thankful he was not any
more aggressive. In many animals (possibly including humans) an uncovered
yawn that displays the teeth is a threat gesture. Whether it was or not in
this case I certainly was made nervous by what I had just experienced. I
have stayed especially well away from sea lion rookeries since then. With no
more protection for my butt than an eighth inch of fiberglass skin I
wouldn't want to unintentionally piss off one of these guys.
Later in a small news article I read of an incident near Kodiak Island where
a fisherman in an orange survival suit was sitting with his butt hanging out
over the transom of a fishing boat. A bull sea lion leapt clear out of the
water and dug his fangs into this poor guys buttocks and hauled him so deep
underwater that others on the boat could no longer see the bright orange
survival suit color under the water. Perhaps human don't taste very good to
Sea lions because this one let the guy go. When the victim reported the
incident to the local constable he wasn't believed at first. The fisherman
promptly "mooned" the constable to show off his wounds.
Once years later when paddling north of Goodman Creek (Washington coast) at
a very fast cruising speed, my paddling partner and I had a sea lion keep
pace with us for quite a while. It swam in a porpoise like manner right
beside us for quite some distance. At times it was less than a couple of
yards away. I don't recall feeling at all threatened during that incident.
The impression I got was that it was curious about what kind of pace these
kayakers could maintain compared with its own cruising pace. Most encounters
with sea lions have been with what seemed to be with very shy but curious
females that swim behind you in a group and then stick their heads up for a
better look. If you turn and see them looking at you they quickly disappear
below the surface.

Matt Broze
http://www.marinerkayaks.com


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