Sea lions

Cats and Dogs

They are everywhere

basking in the sun

on docks, beaches, boats, steps, benches.

Indifferent to me.

As I walk by,

a whisker twitches.

Sea Lions

Shoo!

Waving the towel and walking

toward the intruder.

Bearing his teeth

barking and growling

he reluctantly leaves.

Lobo Marino-

Wolf of the sea. 

In the San Cristobal anchorage in particular, the sea lions were everywhere. When we took the water taxi ashore, we would thread our way through ten or fifteen of them lying on the dock. 

They had an abandoned boat in the harbor, similar to a Maine lobster boat, without an  engine jsut sitting on a mooring. This was clearly a gift to the sea lions as there were at least ten on it every time we went by.

Here you can see our defense of the sugar scoop stern. We had countless  lions swim around and look closely at the possibility of sneaking by. In the end, only one came on deck there. Unfortunately, in his rush to defend our home, Christopher shooed the intruder out of the cockpit before we could take a picture.

Later near Santa Cruz, we had another Sea Lion on the poop deck- this time at night. They really are quite docile when you walk by them lying in the sun. There was one on the dock, blocking our way to the dinghy. He did not like the disruption we caused and growled at us, bearing his fierce looking canines. Figuring that we could move faster on land than he could, we moved forward slowly, yelling at him and waving our hats. He ultimately decided that he should find a quieter place so he scootched to the edge and dove into the water, giving us safe passage. This experience prepared us well for the cockpit intruder who wanted no part of our waving towels. - Molly

Sea lion on the poop deck! This photo was taken the night before we left Santa Cruz, Galapagos, bound for Rapa Nui, Chile.