Sea Lions- they don't actually "attack" humans

I love marine mammals. Orcas are just about the coolest animals on the planet, and I love watching them an learning about them.  Sea lions are up there among the cool. I've spent hours at both Pier 39 in San Francisco and on a beach near San Luis Obispo talking to the sea lions.  In fact, the fact that my boyfriend at the time waited in the car while I spent another 30 min with the sea lions was one of the many signs that he was going to be an ex.

Pier 39 San Fran

Last week, I had my first sea lion encounter in the water. We'd seen a few swim by prior to entering.  This one I saw surface and dive about 25 feet in front of me.  I was in awe.  It was beautiful! Then I was scared, I didn't see which way it went!

I looked for it under the water. I didn't see it.  I looked for it above. I didn't see it.  I'm pretty sure, however, that it saw me.  And probably swam away shaking its head at the poor blubber-less mammal that swims so slow.

The whole thing got me thinking about the safety of swimming with sea lions. So I did some research.

The news headlines were abundant "sea lion attacks man taking photo" "sea lion attacks kayaker". Seriously, a kayaker?  They aren't even really in the water. "Diver attacked by sea lion". But as I drilled down, I saw that all these articles had one thing in common-- the person was FISHING at the time they were attacked.  The man taking a photo had just cleaned fish and had one in his hand for the photo. The kayaker was "attacked" by a playful young pup who climbed on his kayak and stole fish.  The diver was spear fishing as well.

So I kept looking for cases of swimmers (without fish) who were attacked by sea lions. I found a story about a beach near San Diego where the sea lions had taken over, for resting and breeding purposes.  Humans were used to swimming from that beach and still wanted to. A few had negative encounters, including being bitten, by the sea lions.

The story reports:
Lately, the increasingly territorial animals have started blocking swimmers from getting into the water, forcing people to walk back and forth on the beach until they can find a safe opening to enter the ocean.

In this case, one has to put at least some of the responsibility on the human.  When a wild animal is clearly signally to you "don't go there" then you probably shouldn't go there!

Monterey Bay Sea Lions

I did find one case of a lone swimmer in San Francisco Bay who was neither fishing nor harassing sea lions when she was bit.  That was the only case I could find through a casual search.

The bottom line, is that they are highly unlikely to bother you, if you don't have fish and don't bother them.  So I'll keep on swimming, and hope to see more again in the future.

Mental Fortitude and Consent

Back in the water after two weeks off for my Flying Clinic. It was HARD to get back in. Getting into the cold water really is a mental game.  It was like all my mental fortitude was gone. Perhaps I used up all my emotional and mental strength on the flying. As I stood there, contemplating the water, waist deep, I even said, "I confronted my biggest fear last weekend and now can't convince myself to get into cold water this weekend."  I seriously contemplated getting out. But I want to participate in the Democratic Caucus next weekend, so will likely miss that swim. So if I want to swim in March. This is the one.

I watched a sealion swim by, it looked happy to be in the water. I wanted to join it.

One of my swim buddies told the story that she heard at the Duwamish Longhouse.  That when one enters the water, they should ask permission of the water to swim. I love the idea of getting the consent of the water for you to be there.  It seems that if the water consents, it is more likely to ensure your safety.

I ask for consent from the water. It took a few tries before it agreed.

For a good five minutes I stood there.  Shivering. Doing all the self-talk I could muster. Go, Rebecca. You'll be glad you did.  I splashed myself with water.  Got colder and colder.  The air temp was probably 55, so warm, but not with the water and wind. I watched other swimmers enter and swim off.  And finally, I got my consent, swore with a child-friendly swearword (fudgsicle) and swam off.

And it was delightful.

I felt like I could swim forever.

I swam to the third staircase (half mile round trip) and loved every minute of it.  I felt cold but I never felt too cold.  It was magical.

Oh yeah, this is why I swim!!