My City By The Bay

A lazy afternoon for the sea lions @ Pier 39

I visited my sea lion buddies yesterday at Pier 39.  Walking through the pier I was surprised there were not many people around until I came upon the sea lion area only to find literally hundreds of people with their cameras getting shots of the lions.  You could hear the barking from a block away.

Years ago the sea lions for some unknown reason inhabited that area at pier 39 which was used as docks for small boats.  At that time there was major distress over what to do with the sea lions.  The boat owners were not happy, the city got involved  and everyone was trying to come up with a solution.  In the meantime the sea lions were drawing quite a crowd which made the pier 39 ownership sit up and take notice.  Long story short Pier 39 won the endless discussions and allowed the sea lions to take residence.  Where are the boats? They have docked in another area around pier 39.  I’ll have another post on that later.

I was watching the lions yesterday and thinking to myself they are not unlike many celebrities.  They hang out, play, rest and are endlessly photographed.  What a life!

I took a photo and some video for you.  As you can see they don’t move around very much but they certainly communicate with all that barking.  It’s fun to just watch them and how they interact with each other.  They’ll push each other off the dock, then swim around and chase each other.  Sometimes they’ll have what seems to be a barking contest - or maybe they’re singing? 

So, if you are ever visiting make sure to catch a peek of these guys, you can’t miss them, just follow the bark.