Sea Lions of the Sea of Cortez - August, 2019
One of my favorites from this trip
My goal for this trip was getting to dive with a bunch of sea lions, which I hadn't done in over 20 years (the last time I did a Sea of Cortez trip).
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Some of the sea lion photos in this gallery are in color, and some in black & white...based solely on which I liked better one way or the other! One thing you'll notice is that the water was quite murky, so there is lots of backscatter (particles illuminated by my strobes). Note how murky the fellow on the left (doing the mambo?) is.
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Just a few quick topside photos. We flew into Phoenix and caught vans that transported us the 4+ hours across the border to Puerto Penasco,Mexico, where the boat was docked. Other than the cacti, it reminded me of parts of SE Idaho where I lived as a child.
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Our driver named a bunch of the different cacti. I was actually surprised at how much green there was (mostly cactus or sagebrush) along the way.
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Finally, we arrived at Puerto Penasco, on the northern coast of the Sea of Cortez.
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The Rocio del Mar is a fairly spacious liveaboard dive boat that holds 20 divers, although they generally don't book more than 16.
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The dive deck was very crowded - among the worst I've seen, and was consistantly hotter than the outside air (which was in the 90's to well over 100), likely due to the engine-room underneath and totally inadequate ventilation. I spent the entire time sweating.
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Most of our diving was done along islands and shorelines like this. Note that cacti growing along the ridge.
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The crew were among the hardest working and most accomodating of any liveaboard I've been on. Naturally, Luke became friends with them, joking with them in Spanish (one of the 7 or 8 languages he speaks) the whole time.
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Diving was all done from two zodiaks, with the 16 divers divided into three groups. Other than difficult-to-climb ladders, the zodiaks were spacious and the drivers very good!
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Note that right-hand column...one advantage of it being August was that water temps were bathtub warm in most places - especially at Isla San Pedro Martir, where we got our two wonderful dives (at the dive site Arroyo) with the sea lions. I ended up ditching my wetsuit and just diving in swim trunks and a rash-guard shirt.
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The group of sea lions we dove with numbered around 20, and most of them stayed near us the entire dives we did there. This is a remote island where they seldom see divers, so they were curious and actually seemed excited to see us!
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An indication of their curiosity and lack of fear of humans (at least divers), this adult's face is within a foot of Luke's face, as it seems intrigued by Larry's focus light.
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Don't mess with El Jeffe! Every group of sea lions has one dominant bull, easily identifiable by both his girth and bump-forehead. He could usually be seen patrolling the group, or more accurately, warning us where the "Do Not Trespass!" line was. As I learned on my Sea of Cortez trip 20 years ago (to Los Islotes, farther south than we went), if you start getting too close to his turf/harem, Warning #1 is this type of fly-by (with him barking and blowing bubbles); Warning #2 is him blowing bubbles directly in your face. There is no Warning #3; if you keep coming closer after the first two, he will attack. On my other trip, some idiot on an earlier trip kept getting closer, and the bull tore off his entire scalp (down to the bone).
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Grace in motion! Sea lions are not only VERY fast, but beautifully acrobatic and seem to love to do twists and loops, rather than swimming in straight lines. You'll see that in many of the photos in this gallery. The water may have been murky, but there's no mistaking their amazing gracefulness.
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Underwater ballet! When one sea lion dove down from the surface to see us, it was usually followed by others.
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Like dolphins, sea lions are quickly bored by divers who just stay in one place. If you want them to stay, you need to "play" with them by doing somersaults, rolling over and over, etc. Larry was the best in our group at that. It was amazing to see them mimic whatever he did - they LOVED his antics!
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Two sea lions wonder what that clumsy beast is doing in THEIR ocean!
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You don't notice their elongated necks, but when they are "flying" around, you can see how perfectly suited they are for swimming.
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A curious pup, only a foot or so from my camera (fisheye lens).
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Looking sleepy, a young sea lion pup stops to wonder what I am...
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Larry was to my right, and they seem far more interested in him than me.
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You really get a sense of how SOCIAL they are - with constant interraction between them.
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Photo-bomb! The guy on the right really wanted to be in the picture. ;-)
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Part of their "play" is blowing bubbles, which this one is doing...with a flourish!
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Another pup comes close to investigate. (I'm using a fisheye lens, so he/she is less than a foot from my camera.)
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Twisting and turning with Larry!
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Curious pup...in VERY murky water; you can see the silt and sand rising from the bottom as the sea lions stir it up swimming near it.
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A pup very close to my camera (1 foot or less).
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These short VIDEOS show how curious (and graceful) they are! Just click on the picture to play video.
You see here how they all decide to dive down and check us out together.
The flying circus - right under the zodiak!
This almost seems like slow motion...but it's not...they're just not in a hurry.
The most intense sunset I've ever seen. This unretouched photo (NO saturation increase - I promise) was nearly over when someone yelled to come and see it. Luke said it was even more amazing a few minutes earlier.
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