Island Treasures Nature Spotlight: Sea Lions on the Shore

A rare gathering of California Sea Lions turned a quiet Vancouver Island shoreline into a living, breathing wildlife spectacle. In this Island Treasures spotlight episode, come along as we get an unusually close look at these massive, captivating mammals as they rest and jostle for space on the beach during the lead‑up to the herring run.

With photos andvideo accompanying the audio version of the podcast on YouTube, this episode brings plenty of coastal atmosphere, offering a refreshing break and a glimpse of the Island’s wild charm—before we return to our ongoing conversations about life after caregiving in the next episode.

My husband's Pexel account

Transcript

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Thank you for tuning in to the Island Treasures podcast. We value the insights shared by our guests and hosts. But it's important to note that their personal experiences are intended to inform and encourage and not to replace professional, legal, or medical advice. With that, we are ready for today's exciting episode. Every now and then, in the midst of our conversations about caregiving and life after caregiving, we take a pause and share something a little different. Today is one of those moments. So welcome to our first of the occasional Island Treasures episodes, where we turn our attention to the natural wonder and treasures of Vancouver Island. Today's treasures come with whiskers, flippers, and a whole lot of personality. The other day I was making supper, and I had the TV on, and I heard parts of a news report of sea lions taking over a beach on Vancouver Island. My interest was piqued, and I was glued to the TV at that point, because I live on Vancouver Island. Finding out these magnificent ocean creatures were south of the Comox Valley, where the podcast originates, I decided it would be fun to go and check them out. Sea lions are those marine creatures that like to bark. We often hear them before we see them, and we often see them swimming in the ocean, but seldom do we have the opportunity to view them up close and personal. Equipped with my iPhone and my husband with his camera, we drove south to the community where they have taken up residence, awaiting the herring run. And the herring run provides them with one of their favorite foods, the oily herring. The herring run is also an exciting time on the island, and it usually happens the first week of March. And at that time we see the big fishing boats congregate on the Georgia Strait. Their nets dropped or being hoisted, we hear the ticking sound as the giant spool mechanically collects the net and drops off the fish into the boat. Each boat. There's many boats. In the years that I've been living on Vancouver Island, I've enjoyed seeing the increased water activity at this time, including some of the acrobatic moves performed by the sea lions. Let's get back to the beach where the sea lions are hanging out. As my husband and I walked up to the beach, we were quite surprised that we couldn't hear much vocalization from the sea lions. That's the barking I was talking about. So we asked another couple who were walking back to their car if the visitors were still here. Oh yes, they said. They're pretty much just sleeping right now. And when we got there, yep, we saw they were pretty much sleeping, squished beside each other, on top of each other, like sardines in a can. But it would have had to have been a very big can. I was impressed to see members from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans present. I was also impressed to see a rope fence separating the onlookers from the sea lions. There's a legal requirement to keep a minimum distance of a hundred meters from the sea lions. The rope divider made this distance clear, and we onlookers followed the law. We were close enough. Especially when a wave hit the shore and awakened the sleepers, causing them to rouse frantically and come closer to the fence. It felt like a cattle stampede was about to erupt. But when they were a little further away from the water, they settled back down again, vying for new positions in the colony. There must have been a couple of hundred of them. Some had really cute faces, some looked old, some roared like angry bears. And one had a sweeter bark. They were all very entertaining to watch. When the odd one walked on its limbs, it reminded me of the shows that are put on at Marineland in West Edmonton Mall. I was happy to know these mammals are free to do whatever they want. We were close enough to see their little ears, their big whiskers, their tufts of hair, and their fins or flippers. I had fun seeing their almost human personalities as well. Our photo opportunity was amazing. When we got home, my husband uploaded his photographs to his Pexel stock photo account, and the next day ten of his sea lion submissions were already featured by Pexels. And speaking of photography, I will put some pictures and videos to this audio version on YouTube so you can get a glimpse of what these visitors looked like. That's it for this episode's Island Treasure Spotlight, something a little different, and I hope interesting and refreshing, like a breath of fresh air. In our next episode, we'll return to our ongoing conversation about life after caregiving, what it means to rebuild, rediscover, and reimagine who we are after Caregiving. I'm looking forward to continuing that journey with you. Thank you for tuning in today. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode. So feel free to text the show by the link in the show notes. See you next episode!