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Elephant seals in PNW

4K views 29 replies 10 participants last post by  sailingdog 
#1 ·
Greetings fellow Northwest sailors,

I was out in the strait today and went past Minor Island, next to Smith Island in Charlie Cobra country and saw an elephant seal on the beach. This is the first year in 24 years of boating on the sound that I've seen one of these critters and I've seen one twice now at this location. It was close to 10 feet long. Here's a pic:

 
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#4 ·
I just spent a few minutes googling.

An elephant seal is an earless seal, ie a true seal, where a sea lion is an eared seal and can walk on its flippers. Not sure I really did the 30 sec description correctly or not, but.............from what I could look up quickly, having one or two around here out of S cal or mexico where they breed is a good thing from what I can gather!

marty
 
#5 ·
Great pic Ray, were you able to get as close to it as it looks in the pic? I saw one several years back down by Pt Townsend while sailing, thought it was a huge deadhead until I got up close enough. Crummy weather we're having, eh?
 
#6 ·
We were about 30 feet off the beach. We thought it was dead at first, because it didn't move. I guess when they get that big, there are not too many things to bother them.

You're right about the weather. We went down to the boat last weekend just to putter around on a few things and commented on the way home that we really want to get back out. With the weather and other stuff it's been almost four weeks since we were out last.
 
#9 ·
Wouldn't you just love to come down to your boat and see this chubby horse lounging at the helm of your boat?

The weather has to break, we got possession of the boat yesterday. If its above freezing Saturday we are going for a sail, no holding the admiral back, she has stylin new foulies!

michael
 
#10 ·
Double,

Is that your boat in your avatar? It's a nice looking boat if it is. Are you going to take it back down to Oregon this summer?
 
#11 ·
Ray:

Nice shot. Looks like a nice clear day... So.. you head from LaConner through Deception Pass and out to Smith Island for a daysail?

That's an ambitious daysail.

Smith/Minor islands are interesting. I passed them in heavy fog last summer.. Seemed lonely and eerie...

Glad I had my GPS.

David
 
#13 ·
Hi Ray,

Yes the avatar photo is our Dehler 39 Passarelle, thank you for the compliment. The photo was taken by previous owner when the boat lived back east. We are going to keep the boat at Elliott Bay, no plans to move it to OR, the sailing out of OR just doesn't compete with Puget Sound.

We are smitten with our new baby!
michael
 
#16 ·
Wouldn't you just love to come down to your boat and see this chubby horse lounging at the helm of your boat?
It was very common in Kodiak for Steller sea lions to try to climb up the trawl ramps of the fishing boats in order to get at the fish scraps that were still hanging in the rolled-up nets. One fellow managed to get up on deck, then fell into the open hold. The only way to get him out was to flood much of the hold until he could swim out, but in the interim, he managed to eat quite a bit of the fish that was still stored down there.

FYI - I would be very careful about actually trying to get close to these animals for a photo opportunity (not that the OP did - just pointing it out). There are very strict rules under the Marine Mammal Protection Act regarding "disturbing" marine mammals and hefty penalties for intentionally doing so. Best to stay far away and watch from a distance, both for the good of the animal and of your wallet :).

Ron
 
#17 ·
FYI - I would be very careful about actually trying to get close to these animals for a photo opportunity (not that the OP did - just pointing it out). There are very strict rules under the Marine Mammal Protection Act regarding "disturbing" marine mammals and hefty penalties for intentionally doing so. Best to stay far away and watch from a distance, both for the good of the animal and of your wallet .
Doh! I didn't even consider that. Thanks for the reminder. Now it's time to change my screen name and start editiing posts. Take my previous distance estimate and add 100 yards or whatever the legal requirement is. Thanks.
 
#19 ·
As far as distance goes, unfortunetly the rules are rather strict, but if you come from behind a rock corner, and one is 20' in front of you, you can get some hefty fines, even tho you did not intentionally attempt to be within the limits. Kind of screwy at times. Not sure that being out on the water, it on shore would be an issue, but then again............

Not sure I would really worry about. Now if you had pics throwing stones or equal...................
 
#21 ·
Not sure in this day and age if formating the hard drive will help you! LOL

The main thing is to remember that some of the marine species around here are endangered, and that we need to be good stewards and make sure we do not mess with them when we encounter them. Of course, the US NAVY and there sonar testing etc is probably one of the WORST offenders vs you motoring by and taking a opportunity pic that you were probably not expecting to be able to take! Of course, I am not an attny, so what does my opinion count for? probably not much.

I still think it is cool that you are seeing one. And if doing things with in endangered species area's like this means anything, the home I grew up in in Kirkland, has a bald eagles nest in the front yard doug fir, less than 100' from where I slept, played in the yard etc, as that is about how high up the nest is in the tree. so it must not be that bad a place to have a nest in the middle of the neighborhood! 100 yds from Lk washington etc.
 
#24 ·
Speaking of Bald Eagles on Lake Washington. One of my favorite walks in the neighborhood ( when in Seattle) is to go from apt. in Madison Park down to Leshi Marina and back. So last Saturday we did the walk and got down to the Marina and there sitting on a power pole watching the world go by was HUGE Bald Eagle, I mean huge. Looked like he ate a Canada Goose. Just sat there watching the pedestrians and cars go by, head bobbing back and forth. Damn I wish I had the camera with me, it was a funny site. I have seen hundreds of bald eagles, but never this fat and certainly not hanging on L. Washington Blvd.

michael
 
#25 ·
Just sat there watching the pedestrians and cars go by, head bobbing back and forth. Damn I wish I had the camera with me, it was a funny site. I have seen hundreds of bald eagles, but never this fat and certainly not hanging on L. Washington Blvd.
He was probably waiting for another cat to get hit on the Blvd.

Around 20 years ago, I was coming down the Skagit River one Nov or Dec night and came across a bald eagle lying on shore at the waters edge. It was out of it. We pulled to boat up and found that it was all wet. We scooped it up and took it down to Mt. Vernon where we arranged to have someone pick it up and take it to a rehab center. I have a picture of my partner holding it wearing a lifejacket for some insulation. I heard they warmed it up and pumped some fluids into it and released it a few days later. There was speculation that it grabbed a fish that was too big and spent some time in the river.
 
#26 ·
....There was speculation that it grabbed a fish that was too big and spent some time in the river.
Seen that before, actually just last year. We were heading up into Howe Sound and passed an eagle doing the breast stroke 1/2 mile from shore. I've heard that they cannot release their talons until they are supporting themselves on land, and can get "dragged under" by too large a fish.

This one seemed to manage to let go, after 5 mins or so struggling with on the surface he took off empty handed.
 
#27 ·
Around 20 years ago, I was coming down the Skagit River one Nov or Dec night and came across a bald eagle lying on shore at the waters edge.
Took two pictures and gave the good one to the fellow holding the bird. It was cold that night and by the time I took this picture, the lens got foggy or icy or something.

 
#28 ·
Just my humble opinion, but that seal didn't appear to be very disturbed (or even awake) by your presence Ray. And I'm sure that with your big telephoto lens that you were more like 300' away, must have been a typo about the 30', right?
 
#29 ·
As far as distance goes, unfortunetly the rules are rather strict, but if you come from behind a rock corner, and one is 20' in front of you, you can get some hefty fines, even tho you did not intentionally attempt to be within the limits
You are correct. Fortunately, an officer can utilize some discretion in these cases. In the scenario you illustrate above, I would personally never write a ticket as long as the boat did what it's supposed to do as soon as it sees the animal: stop and let the animal go on its way. Take pictures if you want, but let it be. The only way an unwitting vessel operator should be cited - IMO - is if they're operating negligently in some way, at a higher speed than conditions warrant and/or without looking where they're going

Conversely, I've written tickets to people who put their engines into gear and - even very slowly - "followed" the animal to try and find some better camera angle or additional/personal moment of zen. Even if the animal doesn't seem to be alarmed, frightened, or swimming quickly away from you, you could be "herding" it in a direction it may not want to go, separating a calf from its mother, pushing it against a bank that you can't see, etc. People always try to get close to the buoys in AK where the Steller sea lions are hanging out - usually scaring them off the buoy. And in fact, the may have been "hanging out" there because there was a killer whale nearby, so duh - way to help out nature!

If memory serves, the law actually says something to the effect that any type of "pursuing" which interrupts the "breeding, feeding, or sheltering" activities is considered a "take" under the act. Unfortunately for the animals, the MMPA is pretty toothless and easy to circumvent by any would-be violator, so it helps if the animal is likewise threatened or endangered and, thus, covered by the Endangered Species Act. Of course, you almost always have to witness the violation personally, because even photos are never great proof, especially on the water, where judging distances can be dicey.

I was glad to see you write about stewardship, and to be honest, boat owners (power or sail) aren't even ther worst violators here in the PacNW. Kayakers (of which I am one) are. They seem to think that their ultra-stealthy activity is virtually unnoticed by the animals, which is far from the case - they "herd" and do all the same things I just mentioned, just like a bigger boat does. Except they do it more often because they mistakenly believe that they have no ill effects on the creatures.

Ron
 
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