Home » Posts tagged 'sea-lions'

Tag Archives: sea-lions

Pong

Posted on by | Leave a comment

Sea Lions at Chace Park

It was a hot day, so I decided to take a book and lunch with me to Chace Park. When I arrived there, I was assailed by the pong of scores of sea lions resting on the docks of the Marina. It was decidedly a fishy aroma, and it was noisy with their incessant barking, so I cut my visit short.

As usual, I wondered: Were these seals or sea lions? A quick check of the Internet revealed that they were in fact sea lions. They hung out on the piers in large noisy groups, and they appeared to have small ears.

The park was also crowded with the usual suspects: arrogant crows, watchful sea gulls, and spindly squirrels. Other suspects included a large contingent of the homeless with loud radios. It was exactly conducive for reading. I read a couple of chapters of G. K. Chesterton’s Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens and made my way to my parked car to return home.

It was approximately 80° Fahrenheit (27° Celsius) at Chace Park; but the whole vibe was different from the summer, when the sea lions and homeless were less in evidence.

Sea Lions

Posted on by

Sea Lion (Notice the Ear Flaps)

Whenever the mercury climbs to the high eighties or low nineties (30-35° Celsius), I head to Chace Park in Marina del Rey, find a shady spot, eat my lunch, and begin to read. In the background there is a lot of barking by the sea lions (Zalophus californianus); and dozens of little brown squirrels are climbing trees, descending from trees, and sometimes standing still staring at the tourists. It’s a friendly place, but one that definitely smells of the sea. More to the point, it is usually the coolest, breeziest place I know of to escape the heat.

Today, the sea lions were mostly youngsters. If one of them lolled on one of the wharves, he or she would bark loudly if joined by another sea lion. Maybe it was just their way of greeting one another. Maybe they just didn’t want to share their place in the sun.

The California sea lion can be found from the Alaska panhandle to the Pacific coast of Central Mexico. They are a good example of a non-endangered form of sea life. That makes me happy, because I love to hear them barking at one another.