Sea Lions

29 April 2024

Sea Lions

We are at anchor at Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, San Cristobal Island. Today we will welcome the group of Darwin leaders and camera operators for our first project week on the Galapagos Islands. We are curious to see more of the iconic wildlife here! Surely this is the most iconic location for any project linked to Charles Darwin. 

At the anchorage, we can witness a lot of action around us. Several cruising boats, dive boats and dinghies are crowding the bay. But way more entertaining are the groups of playful sea lions swimming in circles around the anchored ships. They play fetch underwater, and tug-of-war with sticks, but their favourite things are the small dinghies and ribs. As soon as the small boats are left unattended one or more sea lions will claim it to sunbathe and relax. They are getting more skilful every time they jump into them. 

The only problem is convincing the sealions to let us use our dinghy as well. With some clapping and shouting it is possible to wake them from their nap, but to convince them to leave the claimed space is a bigger challenge… As soon as the dinghy is speeding up you can be sure, that at least one sealion will race you to the shore and back and perform some elegant jumps in the meantime.