I usually clip my snorkel off whenever I dive, but PARTICULARLY when I'm diving in an area where I know I'll likely enounter Sea Lions (i.e. Deadman's or the oddly-named Seal Rock). Last year we had a young Sea Lion that ventured regularly over to Shaw's cove, 'buzzing' divers and nipping at their fins. Sea Lions, particularly the younger ones, are a playful sort. They love to play a game of "keep away," which is fun until they grab your snorkel, taking your mask along with it. If you dive much around Seal Rock you'll inevitably see a number of snorkel & mask sets lying on the bottom for this reason.
Having said all that, there are some things I'd recommend if you do encounter playful sea lions.
- You're right, stay calm.
- You're also right, most of the time they are "inviting" you to play by zipping through your legs, blowing bubbles in your face, and tugging on your fin.
- Probably most important is to begin understanding the social structure of the sea lions, their actions, and when you are dealing with the dominant male. As I said, the younger sea lions will swim playfully around you, inviting you to play . Sometimes they'll even bring up items to play keep away with, like mollusks or rocks...or your buddy's mask & snorkel. While I mostly keep my hands in, sometimes I'll 'play catch' with them. I'm particularly careful about keeping my fingers away from their mouth. A small 'nip' from them might be very painful. If you decide not to 'play' they will mostly likely get bored and move onto something else.
- Keep your eye out for the dominant male, as I said. He's pretty easy to tell because 1) He's usually darn large and 2) The other sea lions are deferential toward him. If he ventures out to check you out you'll see the other sea lions back off to a distance. You're not at risk unless you do something stupid (like I did when I first started diving). The bull male dropped to the bottom in front of me, so I did the same, He moved closer ... so I did the same. He humped his back, sticking his nose out to touch my mask. We sat there at a standoff for a while, until he 'smacked' my mask with his nose and swam off. Being intrigued by this action, I did some reading and realized that he was displaying classic signs of aggression and that I was pretty stupid. Live & learn I guess: Don't play chicken with the big dog.
Dolphins: Unless you become a re-breather diver you likely won't see much of them. I've heard about a few divers being 'buzzed' by dolphins, it's rare. I think, like whales, they don't like the 'roar' of the regulator bubbles.
Harbor Seals: If you do night dives when they're around they can be a downright pain in the butt. There's a particularly pesky one at Casino Point that barges in wherever you shin a light, bumping you out of the way and zooming in to see if you've found something to eat. The first few minutes it seemed fun, getting close enough to pet the thing. The last 40 minutes of the dive it was downright annoying and we basically gave up on the dive.
Garabaldi: When they are nesting these normally friendly fish become a bit more aggressive. If you come upon a nest turn your hand so that fingers are down and wiggle the fingers. This seems to excite them and they get all agitated. I've heard of divers doing this with an orange glove, which seems to create an even more anticipated reaction. I used to think of Garabaldi as these cute, harmless, little fish that were pretending to be tough during the mating season, until I saw one rip a star fish to shreds and eat it ... makes me watch how close they come to my fingers during mating season.
Have fun!
They are some of my favourite critters. You'd have to work extremely hard to piss a sea snake off so it would bite you - mostly it's the fishermen hauling them up in the nets that get done. Underwater they aren't the slightest bit interested in biting you if you aren't squeezing them or pulling on them, imho.
