Sea Lions in a hungry frenzy

Last month I went down to the cannery to take pictures of eagles. As I stood on the dock, there was a horrible growling and snorting that suddenly began. I looked down to the water and 2 sea lions had appeared. Within a minute there were over a dozen. All blowing water out their nose and getting my camera wet.

They had come to get fish form the boat. Getting on board was their goal. I've heard that once in a while they succeed, and if the workers try to push them off, they've been bitten.

For interest, compare their size to the man on the boat. Definitely 3 times larger. Needless to say, I was a little concerned. A slip on the ice and I would be in the water among those 600 pound irrationally frenzied beasts. Not a good place for me to fall into. I watched and filmed intermittently for 30 minutes while repeatedly drying my lens.

Anyway, three of them didn’t seem that hungry. Two were repeatedly flipping upside down and putting their snouts close to the third's over and over again. I don’t know if they were juveniles just playing or if was mating dance of some sort.

If you have 3 minutes to waste, take a look. No music this time; just the sound of their breathing. Turn the volume up so you can get a real "feel" of being there when the picture slides end and the videos start.