When Sea Lions Attack!

I recently returned from a 10 day dive trip through SE Alaska aboard the Nautilus Swell. We had a great time and the diving was wonderful. In this thread I want to recount an encounter with an unruly mob of Steller Sea Lions.

Alaska is home to a large population of Stellers. Like California Sea Lions they are very curious and playful. The big difference is that Stellers are MUCH bigger and MUCH more aggressive. We were diving near Inian Island when a group of Stellers decided to play with us. I was the only one in the group with a big camera and they were really interested in it. They liked the strobes on the arms and their reflections in the dome port. Like puppy dogs, everything goes in the mouth. The only problem is that these playful sea dogs were 1000-2500lbs and have really big teeth! Think of a Grizzly Bear with flippers!

First they started to nibble at my strobes, then the strobe cords, and drysuit. After a while we had 20 animals whirling around us. They started bashing me in the face with their flippers, repeatedly flooding my mask. I was pressed against the bottom, wedging my camera in a crack and trying to cover my head. Then they decided to nibble on my head. Believe me when a 1000+lb animal puts your head entirely in its mouth and bites down, it is more than a little intimidating! I was really glad that a few years ago I invested in a super-thick hood that has 1/2" of stiff neoprene. The Stellers were just playing, but they play rough! You can see how they bite each other and most of them are covered with cuts and gouges. Fortunately his teeth didn't get through the 1" of rubber on my head (1/2" x 2 sides) and make it to flesh and bone. I didn't get too many photos because I was having a problem with my strobe and I spent much of the dive just covering my head. They kept coming back and ended up biting me in the head about 6 or 7 times. Even when I decided to hide in the kelp, you could just see the look on their face. "Oh boy, we LOVE playing in the kelp, Chomp..."

The first three photos are mine, and the last one is a photo of me taken by my dive buddy, Ed Southworth. You can see more Alaska photos at Alaska 2011 - a set on Flickr. It is an amazing place to dive.

Steller dreams by - drsteve -, on Flickr

What do you think? Is he looking at me? by - drsteve -, on Flickr

Juvenile Delinquent by - drsteve -, on Flickr

Me and the Steller by - drsteve -, on Flickr

Hmmm...scary fun!

I do agree that these sort of creatures can do a lot more damage than their pretty little faces show! I've seen a seal bite the hand of a diver (which resulted in serious antibiotic treatment due to the various bacterias in their mouths!) and of course a playful leopard seal drowned a snorkeler in the Antarctic a few years ago.

Oh but what fun when they play in front of the camera!

Interesting effect you are trying for with the darkened background. I do think you need to place the strobes a little differently and also vary the power between the 2 to really pull off that effect. Nice try though. I've been meaning to try that with a wide snoot and never remember to do so on the dive!

Your comment about the strobes is quite perceptive. I actually had two strobe problems. First was that my strobe controller was acting up. I have been using the Heinrichs controller for several years and it has been very reliable, but on this trip it was acting weird. I was getting complete strobe failures and some overly hot exposures. It was heartbreaking to have one of these huge sea lions pose in front of my camera and then to have the strobe fail. The other problem was the sea lions themselves. On a number of occasions I would position a strobe and then one of these mischievous little devils would "reposition" it for me. I eventually gave up on the strobes and shot natural light. The first and third images had reasonable exposures, but the second image is natural. The water was pretty dark because it was overcast and the water was pretty green. The fourth image was shot by a friend. It was pretty dark and I had to do some pretty serious dust removal to make it presentable.

I have seen plenty of cute puppy-dog seal photos.

Your second photo reminds me of a middle line backer looking for someone with the ball to tackle. Its more of the "Where can I bash this guy" look than the "please come play with me" look.

So scary!! Niice shots

So scary!! Niice shots

Wow, these guys are scary big! The football metaphor is very appropriate. I'd rather play with the soccer players of Southern California (sea lions).