The first two clips were video of this one sea lion that kept circling me on the calm ocean surface. I was floating by myself, using a snorkel so everything was just quiet and tranquil.
Underwater we swam by some giant kelp and examined the creatures living on the ocean floor with plenty of sea-lion escorts.
Toward the end, luck would have it that a male started chasing a female right in front of the camera and their playful dance was caught on video. An amazing experience for the family diving with these wonderful creatures for the first time.
Two sea lions were resting on the rock. (XT 70-300 @300mm JPEG)
Santa Barbara Island has one of the largest sea lion and sea bird colonies in Southern California. (XT 70-300 @300mm JPEG)
A winter wonderland in the summer courtesy of the sea birds. (XT 70-300 @300mm JPEG)
This was the first time we dived outside of the Tropics. The surface temperature was about 65 F or 18 C and the water got colder the deeper we went. Hood and 7mm wetsuit kept us nice and warm. (SD800 JPEG)
Under dim light in 45 feet or 14 meters of water, it was difficult to take sharp photos of the fast-moving sea lions so I shot mostly video of them. (SD800 JPEG)
Sea lions have external earflaps while seals have tiny ear holes similar to dolphins, whales, and other marine mammals. (SD800 JPEG)