Tuesday, February 3, 2009

You Just Never Know . . .




You never what kind of wildlife you'll see on a dog walk; a couple nights ago Chico and I were walking along the shore of Little South America and noticed the sea lions were in a frenzy of activity, clearly excited by something.  On the way back to the truck we discovered why - it was coworkers Joe and Gary emerging from a dive where they had been completely surrounded by the cavorting sea lions.   Joe is grinning ear to ear because this is a first dive with his new dry suit - the diver/dry suit bond is a difficult one to explain but I will tell you in my EMT training it was mentioned, only half-jokingly, that some divers may prefer to just die if the emergency treatment involves cutting their suit off . . . . 

14 comments:

Lori said...

Wow! Do they have guts! I can't imagine how cold the water is, even with those suits on.

Bren said...

Great view of the seals. How exciting it would be to swim with the seals. Love ya

cary said...

When I lived on the coast of California, I really enjoyed the times the wildlife didn't mind my attempts at surfing; I've had dolphins, sea lions, and otters critiquing my style.

And, hey - dry suits are THE BOMB when it comes to diving anywhere but the tropics!

Elizabeth Douglas said...

How very cool to see sea lions like that!

Well, those dry suits are awesome for sure, but comfortable, they aren't!

TwoYaks said...

Dry suit or no, that looks cold! Bet that's what the sea lions were on about. `Hey, check out these two!`

Lauri said...

Great photo of the seals...I saw a bunch of sea otters at the spit the other night...they were in a frenzy too! Great fun to see the wildlife here!

Akutan's April Dawn said...

my dad and uncle are divers over here in Akutan. It's something I've always wanted to get certified in and do with them (since I was a little girl, I just never got around to actually doing it.) I would love to go play with the sea lions! I heard they are nosey and will come "check" you out. I would love to have a camera down there! As long as you dress warm under your dry suit, you should be good! (as long as you keep up on your suit and have no leaks!) :D

~April Dawn~

Bloviating Zeppelin said...

Man, those are some SERIOUS diving dudes. I wonder what the visibility is like there?

BZ

Lothian said...

Brr! At least it was worth the cold.

Mystic said...

Wow! What an experience that must be. Do you dive Steve?

Jennifer McKenzie said...

Awesome pictures, Steve. Very cool.

Alaska Steve said...

BZ, they said the visibility was around 25 feet. I don't dive yet Mystic, I want to get my open water certification this summer when the instructor comes back to the island - he is away at college in Fairbanks.

Kim Williams said...

I know what you mean about divers and their dry suits. In all my time on the ambulance I found that bikers and their leathers have the same relationship. I felt so bad for one patient I had, he was really hurt but holding together ok, and when I cut his leathers (I absolutely had to....he had a badly broken leg) he started to cry. That one choked me up a bit.

Anonymous said...

My husband got bit on the head by a sea lion a few months ago while diving here....made him a bit nervous I think. And with the money he spends on dry suits, I really hope he never has to cut his!