Unexpected Visitor

Friday saw Chris and I working away on boat chores at the dock. At one point I needed a particular hose, so I quickly walked back to the aft deck to retrieve it from the lazarette, which is a storage space under the aft (rearmost) deck. In my preoccupation with the task on hand I nearly stepped on this....

Unexpected Visitor

Seal or Sea Lion?

So how just how did this creature get aboard our ship? It appears that it jumped out of the water and actually slid through the railing, which is quite a feat since it's almost a four foot vertical jump! Nevertheless, there it was lounging on our deck. The debate quickly started as to whether it was a harbor seal or a sea lion. After a bit of research we found the answer. 

Closely related, sea lions and seals (and walruses) are pinnepeds which means "fin footed" in Latin. The sea lions have larger fin type front appendages, while seals have stubby front fins. But the easiest way to tell the two apart (especially with a small animal like the one on our boat) is to look at the ears, or lack thereof. Sea lions have small external ears, while seals do not have external ears at all, only small holes. Clearly this critter was a sea lion then, and seemingly a juvenile due to the small size. So where was Mom? We didn't want to find out!!! So a quick spray from the hose had the sea lion slipping back into the water.

Another visitor earlier in the week found our outboard motor to be quite a nice resting place, perfect for warming up the feet!