Sea Lion Action

We have had a lot of interaction with the sea lions here. I have had them tugging on my leash when I am surfing, we have been chased around by them on the dock and we have had to kick them out of the dinghy a few times. The most fun we have had with them occurred a few days ago when I was trying to scrub the hull of the boat to get a bit of extra speed for the long sail to the Marquises. This young female turned up and started buzzing me at first then she propped under the hull and we eyeballed each other through the gap between the prop shaft and the hull for ages, we would stare at each other then my nose would get too close to hers (about 8 inches) and she would release a cough of bubbles at me, I’d pull back a bit, she would creep forward, I’d blow some bubbles of air and she’s back of a bit … it was classic. Blue got in the water with the camera and we got a few shots of her swimming with us. I got some amazing video of her catching a small fish from around our rudder and then playing with it like a kitten and a half mauled mouse. Eventually we got too cold and had to get out but she probably would have played with us all day if we had stayed in.


By the time you read this we should be on our way to French Polynesia, it’s our longest leg of over 3,000 miles and it promises to be a long, slow, light wind trip, where ever you are try and whistle up a bit of a breeze for us…… don’t whistle too much though, we don’t want a late season cyclone!