Friday, October 19, 2012

Sea Lions ~ The Easy Life


I fell in love with these guys ...

They are sea lions, not seals, and if you want to know the difference, you can check out this LINK.
  
A wharf in Santa Cruz was a convenient lounging spot for numerous sea lions...

The sea lions were constantly maneuvering for better spots and honking irritably  at one another when their space was invaded. I was reminded of the way our dogs occupy our sofas...

Then, as if they felt it was time to entertain the tourists, a number of them would dive into the water and swim with an exuberant splashing of flippers, suddenly diving all at once only to surface all together a little way off. . .

Others took it easy, enjoying the sun . . .

 Semi-synchronized swimming? 

Like a bronze sculpture...

The wharf thoughtfully provided viewing areas --  
though the best shots were over the side...

Is that a sweet face or what?

There were also sea gulls --  and they were massively unimpressed by everything.

Love those whiskers...
 
I wonder if blond sea lions have more fun?

 A passing bit of seaweed? I don't know ...

Synchronized lounging...
But the gull is still unimpressed.
 
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9 comments:

Ms. A said...

These are great and I love the color of the water, too. More, please!

Ms. A said...

By the way, these do show up larger on lightbox than the previous post photos did.

Ms. A said...

Make that... the previous photo in question.

Martin said...

Great shots, Vicki.

Brian Miller said...

haha i love the look on the gulls face....these guys are awesome...when we live in FL we had a pass to sea world and would go watch them all the time...

Jean Baardsen said...

Great photos! Wouldn't it have been cool to pet one of them? I'm such a seagull fan, the last picture was my favorite.

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

Great photos. Maybe Willa would like a friend to keep her company when you are
away:)
Sam

Barbara Rogers said...

Oh what lovely guys/gals. I bet they have a good life there on the pier. Thanks.

Wayfarin' Stranger said...

Thanks for the nudge to finally learn the difference between seals and sea lions.