We took our first walk of the day a bit later than usual (more like early afternoon as opposed to early morning), but as fate would have it we met a sea lion!!  It is rare for sea lions to come on our beaches, so it is most likely lost or sick…or so I thought.  Being from So Cal, having a sea lion come on the beach is a RARE thing, so for me it was quite unexpected!  Especially since I go to the beach almost 2 times a day and have been for the past month.

This is what happened:  Chloe and I had finished contemplating life, satisfied with what epiphanies came our way and were turning around to head back down the beach.  As I was walking along the edge of soft and hard sand, avoiding the rising tide, I was doing my usual.  Looking around at the waves, keeping an eye on Chloe when something big and brown to the left caught my eye.  It was a sea lion coming out of the waves!!!!  I was scrambling for my phone to capture a photo or a video, not noticing that it had caught the attention of Chloe as well.  As the sea lion finally conquered the near shore tumbling waves, it too was staring at Chloe.  Yes, there was some serious animal kingdom staring going on.  One not knowing what the other was, trying to decide whether or not it was a threat…

Being a marine biology lover meant I knew I was certainly in a predicament.  The curious human in me wanted to see for myself the wild thing up close, but the scientist in me knew that those things bite, and bite HARD they do.  You see, when I was in high school I attended some Sea World Adventure camps (week long) where I got to go behind the scenes and learn about the differernt exhibit areas Sea World had to offer.  On “Mammal Day”, the sea lions were one of the places we visited.  They look cute and playful when you watch a show, but they bark LOUD and they BITE hard.  The phrase “their bark is worse than their bite” is certainly NOT true in their case.  Plus, they can be spooked easily and then that leads to unpredictable behavior…  So, after the mammal stare down between dog and sea lion was over, the sea lion decided to approach us.

And because they can bite when threatened, I thought that these girls should have reigned in their dog since he seemed interested in the massive creature and continually barked at it… Chloe only stared and afterward I made sure to keep us far enough away (75 feet) to make sure she wouldn’t wander back over there on her own.

Chloe and I seem to have the most interesting adventures when we go to the beach…