CATLINS NATIONAL PARK - CANNIBAL BAY ( 30/08/09)
Not far from where we had seen the Penguins the night before lies Cannibal Bay ( not sure about the origin of the gruesome name) and we stopped off in the morning on our way up north in the hope of seeing some Sea Lions. When we arrived on the beach there was not an animal in sight. We decided not to waste the visit and went for a short walk during which Liz spotted this enormous Sea Lion cow in the distance at the other end of the beach.
We carefully approched the female as these Sea Lions are huge and reputed to be considerably more aggressive than those we had encountered in the Galapagos. As we were creeping closer, making sure to remain shore-side of her, to our immense suprise this massive male reared his head out of the undergrowth only a couple of metres away and eyed us menacingly. Having been completely unaware of his prescence we both nearly jumped out of our skin and beat a hasty retreat to a safe distance.
Obviously far less intimidated by us than we were by him it seems he was just a bit grumpy that we had woken him up. With this huge yawn he clearly displayed his contempt for us and settled back down into his warm, dry spot amongst the dune grass.
Possibly aware that her limelight had been stolen by the big male the female began rolling around in the sand playfully much to our amusement.
Photographing the Sea Lions. The male is completely hidden in the brush to our right so you can imagine our surprise when he suddenly reared up.
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