Posted by stephen clark on March 21, 2004 at 08:38:23:
Sea Lions R us...
The first dive was at Arch Reef... Viz was 25' and it was overcast. A bit ho hummm.... nice to be the only one in the water though as I sightsaw around the reef.
2nd dive was near the rookery and as soon as the boat arrived there were 20 to 30 pups poking their pointy muzzles out of the water to check us out. Jumped in and was immediatly divebomed by over a dozen furry little torpedos... barking in my face, zooming over my head from behind, and hanging in impossible yoga positions while eyeballing this bubble spewing clumsy sea monster. Kept trying to touch them as they went buy but rarely managed it. Spent the whole 40 min. dive cavorting with these delightful playmates.
3rd. dive was at the rookery and I was greeted by a fresh group of eager sealions. Their approach was different... they would glide along the sandy bottom like stealth fighterplanes and the turn sharply up to engage this stupid looking visitor. I howled with delight with every near miss and tried my damndest to keep up with them. Got tired and swam over to a reef and saw a dozen or more Spanish Shawls... I've been seeing more than I ever have. Must have seen 50 @ Santa Cruz last weekend. Made my way back to the Sundiver with my troupe and couldn't help but notice how beautiful this one 'lion' was... She was silver-grey on top and her underbelly faded from palomino color to a deep brown/black.... I think she liked me.
As for the boat & captain... Ray is very nice and accomodating and he has cute young girl deckhands! One was running around in a bikini! And Ray had some great stories about GWS's. All in all a wonderful trip. Can't wait to do it again.