Escaping from a Hungry Killer Whale

Capable teeth of a Steller's Sea Lion

 Often when we see Steller's Sea Lions they are acting as the top dog. However, there is always something bigger out there...as the old saying goes. And we found that something today. I could see it from far off, a large black fin cutting through the surface. This could mean only one thing...orca!

Spy Hop

  When we got nearer to the orca I noticed some weird behavior from our starboard side. It looked like something was coming up to the surface but not breaking the surface enough to show itself. It seemed to be sea lion sized in the amount of water that it was moving but not how a sea lion would normally come up for a breath.

 Finally we confirmed that there was a sea lion in the vicinity when it darted right under our ship. The orca didn't seem to mind or want to follow it. They were getting very playful by grouping up together, spyhopping, and even breaching a few times.

Playful Orca near the boat

 The orca continued to play not too far away from the boat before slowly moving off the way they had originally been swimming. That is when one of my coworkers rushed up to the bow saying that the sea lion was all the way up on our swim step poking its  head through the back gate.

Guests and crew with the sea lion

  We walked to the back and sure enough there it was. The stellar sea lion was breathing hard but I couldn't see any cuts or injuries on it. It jumped on and off the back deck many times over the next twenty minutes. Finally it jumped off one last time and we motored off. By then the orca were still in sight but had moved pretty far off from our location. We all hoped that we had helped the sea lion escape from the clutches of the orca this time.

Sea Lion on the back deck

 My best theory was the orca were either playing with the sea lion, holding it under water, which would explain the weird splashing and the heavy breathing of the animal. But another theory would be that there were two sea lions. I can't imagine the orca would have let this one get away that easily if it was the only one.