When Sea Lions attack!

[spt29970]

I recently returned from a 10 day dive trip through SE Alaska aboard the Nautilus Swell. We had a great time and the diving was wonderful. In this thread I want to recount an encounter with an unruly mob of Steller Sea Lions.

Alaska is home to a large population of Stellers. Like California Sea Lions they are very curious and playful. The big difference is that Stellers are MUCH bigger and MUCH more aggressive. We were diving near Inian Island when a group of Stellers decided to play with us. I was the only one in the group with a big camera and they were really interested in it. They liked the strobes on the arms and their reflections in the dome port. Like puppy dogs, everything goes in the mouth. The only problem is that these playful sea dogs were 1000-2500lbs and have really big teeth! Think of a Grizzly Bear with flippers!

First they started to nibble at my strobes, then the strobe cords, and drysuit. After a while we had 20 animals whirling around us. They started bashing me in the face with their flippers, repeatedly flooding my mask. I was pressed against the bottom, wedging my camera in a crack and trying to cover my head. Then they decided to nibble on my head. Believe me when a 1000+lb animal puts your head entirely in its mouth and bites down, it is more than a little intimidating! I was really glad that a few years ago I invested in a super-thick hood that has 1/2" of stiff neoprene. The Stellers were just playing, but they play rough! You can see how they bite each other and most of them are covered with cuts and gouges. Fortunately his teeth didn't get through the 1" of rubber on my head (1/2" x 2 sides) and make it to flesh and bone. I didn't get too many photos because I was having a problem with my strobe and I spent much of the dive just covering my head. They kept coming back and ended up biting me in the head about 6 or 7 times. Even when I decided to hide in the kelp, you could just see the look on their face. "Oh boy, we LOVE playing in the kelp, Chomp..."

The first three photos are mine, and the last one is a photo of me taken by my dive buddy, Ed Southworth. You can see more Alaska photos at Alaska 2011 - a set on Flickr. It is an amazing place to dive.


Steller dreams by - drsteve -, on Flickr


What do you think? Is he looking at me? by - drsteve -, on Flickr


Juvenile Delinquent by - drsteve -, on Flickr


Me and the Steller by - drsteve -, on Flickr

 

[TSandM]

Oh, my goodness, that last picture really puts them into scale!

I had a wonderful time playing with juvenile California sea lions in January, but they were about a quarter that size. And they were too skittish to bite!

 

[fdarden]

Thank you for posting this. I could not imagine being "played with" by something that large on land, much less the water. Great pictures too!

 

[deeper thoughts]

thnx for posting

 

[CheddarChick]

so cool.....and scary...and cool...

 

[drrich2]

I'm glad you guys were evidently seasoned and collected enough to handle the rough-housing. Have a wild carnivore that site grasp your head in its mouth would badly frighten some people, leading to panic or trying to hurt the animal (which could lead to other problems...).

Richard.

 

[spt29970]

Yes, we kept our cool, even as the Sea Lions became aggressive. Although they were intimidating, I didn't feel any urge to do something stupid like punch them or rush to the surface. Antagonizing large animals is a really bad idea. Their play was bad enough, I don't want to be around them when they get mad. On the surface, we saw them catching, shaking, and eating salmon. They have very powerful jaws and bite the fish clean through. The last image above gives a sense of scale. That isn't perspective distortion, we were eye-to-eye when Ed took the image.

Here are a couple topside photos of these big guys.

Ain't Polygamy grand? by - drsteve -, on Flickr


Mr. No-neck by - drsteve -, on Flickr

 

[drrich2]

That first topside group photo is beautiful; they're a fine looking bunch.

I'm glad you clarified about the perspective issue on that last shot; I'd wondered whether it's closer to us very much from the camera's perspective.

So, I take it some of these guys are roughly somewhere between the size of a black bear and a grizzly?

Richard.

 

[koozemani]

What an intense experience. As mentioned above, way to keep your cool in conditions that would have sent many into a panic. I've rough housed with 180 pound Mastiffs that I used to have, but I couldn't imagine trying to hold my own against something that big and agile in the water. I'm guessing you now know what a rag doll feels like. Good thing they were only playing.

I think I'll stick to the California variety.

 

[fisheater]

I saw a TV documentary that included some scientific divers who had the same experience with those Stellers.


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