Smelly Sea Lions – Novelty to Nuisance

On our first day in the Galapagos, we sat on deck mesmerised by the passing sea lions, watching them swim past and under the boat, then, growing confidence, venturing onto Toodles’ transom.  One small sea lion sat on the transom for most of the first day.  We enjoyed watching her antics – taking a dip when she got hot, coming back up with blue streaks down her side, having rubbed up against our antifoul paint.  We nicknamed her Sandy the Sea Lion. She seemed very placid and cute, particularly when she was sleeping.  But we grew a bit weary after Gary put his foot near her and she growled a menacing fish breath growl, bearing some sharp looking teeth.  Hmm. 

We headed into town on a water taxi, leaving the boat via the side deck and not past Sandy. 

As you walk down the pier into the township at Wreck Bay, you are hit by something.  Not a casual thought or an unusual feeling, but instead, a strong smell.

The whole township has been overrun by sea lions.  They waddle down the street like stray dogs and take over the public seating.  There are not just a few of them, but hundreds.  We walk along the boulevard watching them in the streets, on the rocks, and even in their own swimming pool complete with slide.

At the end of the walkway is a beach covered with baby sea lions.  A mummy sea lion plays in the shallows with her baby.  A small baby covered in sand cries for it’s mother, but no one responds.  She waddles up to a group of large sea lions and attempts to rouse one, but it growls at her.  She persists, but the large sea lion runs away, with little baby following, but to no avail.  Eventually the baby gives up and returns to a heap in the sand. 

On our return to Toodles, Sandy has grown three fold.  Now on the transom sits an adult sea lion with an angry look in its eye.  Again we board via the side deck, and creep past the stern so as not to disturb our new visitor.

That night we hear a “Ka-Donk” and Gary goes to investigate.  The big sea lion had managed to get over the transom back board and into the cockpit itself. It seemed to know that it had been bad and jumped back into the water on being discovered.  We rig some fenders to the back of the boat to block the transom and discourage further unwanted night-time visitors. 

In the morning a passing boat warns us not to let the sea lions into the cockpit.  They had had a bad experience, with three sea lions sleeping on their cockpit cushions, rubbing themselves, and their excrement, into the cushions.  After several washes, they are left with the Wreck Bay smell as a souvenir of their trip to the Galapagos. 

Now we watch the sea lions from a distance: they might be a nuisance, but they are still a novelty.