Here’s the sea lion video :-)

I shoot these videos with a GoPro attached to the top of my camera rig, so the footage I get is very much secondary to the stills I’m taking. I hardly ever frame up for the video shots, I get good footage only if the camera happens to be pointing in the right direction while I’m taking the still. Consequently I’m often struggling to find enough footage when I put the videos together - but not this time.

Sea lions are so playful, inquisitive & cheeky that it was impossible not to get lots of great footage. I could have made the video 20 minutes long easily. At times their behaviour was so extrovert towards the diver that it’s impossible not to come to the conclusion they were just plain showing off!

An example was when one juvenile picked up a shell in front of me. She would take it up to the surface, drop it, let it gently sink down & swoop in, catch it in her mouth & repeat the process. She did this about 10 times, often leaving it to the last second before the shell hit the sea floor before zooming in & taking it. She was showing me just how agile & coordinated she was - it seemed to me that it was all done to impress me.

Now I know an animal behaviourist would explain the real reason & I’m sure it had nothing to do with me at all - but I don’t want to know. I think I made a connection with these incredible animals many times in the week & that’s how I want to leave it. To me it was one of the most special trips of my diving career to date. Happy days.