Henry's Diary
Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 March 2008
The heat has continued. Adelaide has had temperatures exceeding 35°C for almost two weeks straight which apparently is an all time record for any Australian city. This is probably the most popular beach in Adelaide, so I have seen a lot of hot and grumpy people arrive at Glenelg over the weekend. Most of them seem to improve their mood after a quick dip in the ocean to cool off. That’s what we sea lions do. As soon as it all gets a bit warm, dive in and cool off again.
It has been an incredibly busy weekend here at Glenelg or “the Bay” as locals call it. The Fringe Festival ended in Adelaide last Friday but a Fringe Foreshore was held here over both days of the weekend. The Fringe is a huge party with heaps of comedians and other artists which is held every February and March in Adelaide. So, the Fringe Foreshore had a whole series of similar events. One that really drew attention was a couple of comedians who were asking people to sign a petition to have the Glenelg jetty removed. A lot of people complained to the council thinking it was real but it was just a joke.
Then, on Sunday there was a Monaro Car Club display with dozens of Holden Monaros. Sunday was the Melbourne Grand Prix so I bet all the people there were Holden fans. On Sunday morning as well, the local St Andrew’s Church held the Procession of the Witness which had a police escort and tram and bus diversions and a road closure.
So between all that and the heat you can imagine how busy it has been at Glenelg. I sat on the foreshore and watched some of it but most of the weekend I spent in the water where it is cooler.
Which reminds me. I told you about the speeding boats that worried me. Well, the police and the councils have had a blitz on kite surfers and jet skiers who are doing the wrong thing. Hopefully that will make the beaches and water safer for the people who are doing the right thing (and for me and the dolphins of course).
Tomorrow most of the people will be back at work and things will go back to something like normal. The heat wave is due to finish on Tuesday with the temperature only expected to reach about 31oC. That certainly isn’t cold but it’s a lot cooler than it has been.
With all this activity around Glenelg, I really haven’t done much at all except lie around in the shallows and watch the people get hot. Sometimes, the life of a sea lion can be pretty good.
Friday 14 March 2008
I spent today at Glenelg, mainly lazing around the Promenade in front of the restaurants at Holdfast Shores. It is a particularly lovely spot. I really didn’t go anywhere, I just dipped into the water when it got hot and the rest of the day I simply relaxed to digest my food and recover from my recent hunting trips.
As I have mentioned, sea lions and seals both have a “dive reflex”. This means that when we dive our blood circulation changes and most of our blood goes to our hearts, lungs, brains and muscles. These are the things we need to dive for long periods of time and hunt for our food. It is a very neat system – except it means that there is not a lot of blood going to our digestive organs so we don’t digest food very well while we are in the water. So, when we come on land, we need to relax to give our muscles and other parts of our body that have been working hard the opportunity to recover and to digest the food we caught on our hunting expeditions. Sea lions can spend up to five days at sea but then we have to spend about the same length of time on land to make up for it. We aren’t lazy, we just have a different system to humans and you only see us when we are in recovery mode so you probably think we don’t do much at all.
Anyway, I was happily basking in the sun this afternoon when a kid approached me. That’s okay – as you know I like people and he seemed okay. But then I got the shock of my life. He started hitting me with a stick, for absolutely no reason at all. I should have bitten him but I have never bitten a human and, unless I am forced into doing so, I have no intention of starting now. But this kid was really asking for it. Fortunately for me a couple of my Team were in the area and told the kid off big time. I don’t understand. Most people are really nice but then some idiot comes along and spoils the entire day.
If you see me on the beach, or any other seal or sea lion, please don’t touch us, don’t tease us, don’t feed us and don’t hit, prod or poke us. One day I even had a lady hit me with her handbag. Most strange. I do like people, well, to be precise I like most people most of the time.
It is going to be another very hot weekend and I bet there will be heaps of people at Glenelg. If you heading for the beach have a great weekend and be careful, look after yourself, other people and the animals you see on the Adelaide foreshore. Most of all please be nice to me!
Thursday 13 March 2008
The seas were calm again today when I headed out from Glenelg. I travelled quickly down to the shallow reefs off Hallett Cove. There were a lot of recreational fishing boats out today, which seemed strange, because I thought these people should have been at work, like I am. I was surprised to see a few fishermen had found one of my favourite fishing spots, but they didn’t catch much after I turned up!
I darted in amongst their snapper lines, crab nets and squid jigs, grabbing seven snapper, some of which were even legal size! I must apologise to the fisherman who had hooked one large snapper. I saw the fish desperately fighting against the taut line. I couldn’t help but steal that easy meal from his hook, but I swam a distance away from his boat before I surfaced to eat the 60 cm beauty. I hope he caught another fish to make up for it, because I probably couldn’t have caught such a large snapper without his help. Soon after, I could hear him telling his mates in a nearby boat about the one that got away…on this occasion his story was true, but I was too busy eating my lunch to help defend his honour.
After such a large and tasty meal I headed to shallower inshore waters, occasionally slowing to chase and catch a few calamari squid. The calamari squid aren’t very big at this time of year and most of them are finished spawning, but they are pretty easy to catch and when I happen upon an aggregation of them I can usually chow down ten or twenty of them in a few dives. Calamari are so small that I often just swallow them whole, without even chewing. Most of the time I don’t even bother to surface to eat them, I just suck them down underwater - I bet you can’t do that!
I saw a few blue swimmer crabs, but with all of the other seafood delights on offer I just couldn’t be bothered dealing with the spikes today. Maybe tomorrow I’ll chase down a few of them.
I got back to Glenelg late on tonight. I will probably spend most of tomorrow ashore near Sammys café, at least until it gets hot, when I will go for a dip, to cool off. I might see you down the beach this afternoon, or over the weekend.
Wednesday 12 March 2008
I woke up to the noises of Glenelg this morning and hung around the breakwater for a while watching the boats going out for the day. This is quite a busy marina. Between dolphin cruises, fishing boats, ski boats and all the other vessels that go in and out it can be pretty full on at times.
About mid-morning I was starting to get a bit peckish so went a couple of kilometres straight out from Glenelg and did a bit of fishing myself. As I was swimming back later in the day I could get a really good overview of what was happening on the beach – and some of it was quite scary. Most people are sensible and careful but the behaviour of a few was downright dangerous.
One little kid wandered away from a family group and went to play in the shallows, and the group did not notice for at least ten minutes. Then they called him and he went running back absolutely fine. The problem is that a child can drown in a couple of minutes and neither the little kid nor his parents realised that danger. Parents have to supervise their children near water and the kids have to be taught not to just wander off. I also saw a lady sunbaking. She is going to be very burnt and sore tomorrow morning. The other thing that really worried me was the speed that some boats were travelling. There were humans in the water and dolphins and, most importantly me – and the drivers of the boats were going so fast they could not possibly have seen any of us. Transport SA has patrols along the foreshore targeting speeding boats and jet skis, I just hope they get caught before someone is hurt.
At about dusk, there were a lot of people on the beach. Most were swimming between the flags, but not all. If the lifesavers cannot see someone, they cannot help them if they get into trouble. It is still hot so some people brought their picnic tea and a few drinks. Later in the evening, it became clear that some had been drinking quite a bit. Swimming in the dark is very dangerous at the best of times. Swimming in the dark after drinking is even more dangerous.
The Adelaide metropolitan beaches are magnificent. But people do have realise that this can be a dangerous place and be sensible.
As the day drew to a close I hauled out near the Promenade and listened to the restaurants swinging into action and the sounds of people enjoying another perfect Adelaide night. I do love Glenelg.
Tuesday 11 March 2008
I left Aldinga Beach early this morning. The ocean was incredibly clear and glassy. It was still warm even though it wasn’t quite dawn. It is going to be another hot one today. I headed up the coastline towards Adelaide. From the shallows the shoreline was quite spectacular. Around Pt Willunga the white sand contrasts against the black reefs on the shoreline and behind the sand there are huge limestone cliffs topped with ochre cracked clay. In the dawn light the area looks like an alien world. The tide was just starting to go out and, through the clear water, I could see the wreck of the Star of Greece which ran aground on the reef here in 1888. In the car park there was a group of divers getting ready to explore the reef. Of course I have dived here thousands of times. It is my local take-away joint. But the reef itself is incredibly spectacular with lots of fish of all descriptions and interesting caves and canyons to explore. But I wasn’t hungry and didn’t feel like exploring so I continued up the coast.
I swam past the cliffs at Hallett Cove and the mouth of the Onkaparinga River at Pt Noarlunga. The early morning sunshine made the sand dunes glow like they were made of gold. The two sides of the river mouth are totally different. On one side the colourful clay and limestone cliffs tower over the calm estuary while on the other is South Port beach. Here the surf can be amazing – but this morning it was pretty calm.
All along the coast there were people taking their dogs for a walk or playing in the water. Now that the long weekend is over, there are not quite as many people around but, with the heat, the beach is still a popular place to be.
I was just cruising and not thinking about anything in particular. These hot lazy mornings are good for that. I passed the Brighton jetty and then something caught my attention. Without realising it, I had arrived at the Glenelg marina. I hauled out on the breakwater at the end of the Promanade and listened to the sounds of the morning. There were council trucks moving around and the restaurants were receiving their deliveries for the day. It felt really good to be back on my home turf. I stayed there for a little while then went to check out the Patawolunga, just to make sure nothing had changed while I was away. I spent most of the day swimming or walking around its entire length and it is still exactly the way I left it three weeks ago.
After a very pleasant day exploring, I returned to the marina breakwater and flopped on rocks and simply soaked in the familiar surroundings. If sea lions could smile, I would have been smiling! I thought about the Pages Islands and the things I have seen and done since I left here but most of all, I was pleased to be back. I will certainly stay here for a while at least.
Monday 10 March 2008
I left Wirrina Cove reasonably early this morning. As soon as I heard vehicles in the area I thought it was time to go. After all the commotion of yesterday, I had decided that I would be trying everyone’s patience by hanging around the boat ramp for a second day.
So I swam up the coastline towards Yankalilla and stayed around there for a while. The southern beaches really are beautiful. Over the long weekend people are making the most of them. All along the coastline there are children playing in the shallows, kayakers, surf skis and ski boats. The only water sports that are missing are the surfers – because it is so still that there is absolutely no surf at the moment, and sailors for the same reason. The heat is continuing. I just hope that people are using sun block and wearing hats. Sea lions do not get sunburnt but people certainly do in this weather.
Going past Carrickalinga I saw a group of about six dolphins playing about a hundred metres off shore. They really do seem to play. After about ten a fishing boat that was heading out to sea went past them. I don’t think the captain even knew they were there. Anyway, the dolphins started bow surfing and playing with the boat. They swam right under it then leapt in the air just in front. The captain veered a little bit – I think he was scared that he might hit one. But the dolphins do this all the time. When they got sick of that game they just swam next to it keeping up with it easily and arching through the surface as they went. They are beautiful to watch - I bet they are even faster than fur seals!
The Adelaide foreshore is an amazing place. Just walking along the beach people can sometimes see sea lions, fur seals, dolphins and all sorts of seabirds. Its just part of the lifestyle that the local residents enjoy. They don’t know how lucky they are to have nature literally on their doorsteps.
I heard a couple of interesting things recently. The people that put the satellite tag on me tagged another male sea lion over on Kangaroo Island last week. He will be tracked as part of a research study into sea lions. It is really important that the scientists know where and how we live so our habitat can be protected and the threats to us can be reduced as much as possible. The other interesting thing is that a green sea turtle ate a prawn a while ago. That in itself isn’t all that interesting; they do it all the time. The difference is that this prawn was on a fishing hook and the turtle swallowed the hook. The Zoos SA vets X-rayed the turtle and could see the hook in its throat inside the shell so they anaesthetised it, cut a hole in the shell and removed the hook and then repaired the shell. The turtle spent a few weeks recovering in at the zoo and was fine. The vets released him a week or so ago, which is good news.
I didn’t feel like hunting today so I just swam around watching the boats, and the people, and the dolphins and everything else that was going on. Eventually I ended up at Aldinga Beach and settled down there for the night. I am slowly heading towards Adelaide and leaving the Pages Islands well behind me.
Sunday 9 March 2008
It has been so hot lately. The entire Fleurieu Peninsula has had temperatures in the high thirties or low forties for the past week. South Australia is normally a hot, dry place but, this is hotter and drier than usual. There has been a severe drought for ages and this heat is going to continue for at least another week. And we have a long weekend for the Adelaide Cup horse race this weekend, so lots of people are heading for the coast. That suits me, I quite like people.
I spent last might at Wirrina Cove. There is a nice boat ramp there where I spent the night. Big mistake – as I found out just before dawn this morning. People wanted to launch their boats – both professional and recreational fishers and the occasional would-be water skier. A sea lion in the middle of the boat ramp doesn’t make it easy so they politely suggested that I move (well, some of them were not terribly polite about it!). Reluctantly, I moved and wandered up to the car park. That wasn’t ideal from their perspective either. People reverse and park their vehicles and boat trailers and some of them don’t seem to be very good at it! In any case, a sea lion meandering around the reversing and parking area wasn’t very helpful. So, I went back to the boat ramp and stayed there most of the day. A couple of people got quite agitated about my safety and wanted the boat ramp to be closed – but there were boats out there that had to return to their berths or be taken up the ramp and the ferry to Kangaroo Island goes in and out twice a day so closing the ramp would have been unreasonable and unnecessary. I have lived around boat ramps for a long time now and most people treat me pretty well.
Occasionally I slipped into the water to cool off. By late afternoon it was really hot again, so then I went back on the boat ramp. Soon, boats started returning and I knew I was getting in the way again so, I slept on the pontoon next to the ramp for the rest of the night.
I think I will head out very early tomorrow. I really don’t want to cause anyone any trouble and, from today’s response, me being on a popular boat ramp in the middle of a very hot long weekend is trouble!
Saturday 8 March 2008
I left the Pages Islands yesterday afternoon and made my way slowly around the bottom end of the Fleurieu Peninsula feeding during the night.
This morning it was quite warm and there was a light breeze blowing. It was unusually busy with lots of people launching their boats at Cape Jervis and calling out to each other and kids running around enjoying the relative coolness of the morning. I headed out to sea but decided not to go back to the Pages – I think I mentioned that the younger male sea lions are starting to feel a little unwelcome there. So, instead, I decided to head up the coast towards Adelaide and just see what was happening on the southern beaches. By mid afternoon I had reached Rapid Bay – I was in no real hurry, I was just crising around. I saw the usual snorklers and scuba divers getting organized for their dive and the fishers were already on the jetty. Geez they are keen. It was quite hot this afternoon. I hung around just off the coast for a while and watched them. Around dusk I swam past Lady Bay and Second Valley I could see quite a few people on the beach and playing in the shallows. It really was a little bit cooler on the beach than inland and it was beautifully still. Seas less than half a metre, next to no wind and the ocean was like a mill pond. Everyone would have been happy except the surfers. It was not a good day for them!
By the time I reached Wirrina Cove it was almost 11.00 pm so I decided to haul out on the boat ramp for the night.
Speak to you tomorrow. Have you had a go at my quiz yet? The answers are all in the diary entries from the time I had my medical examination until yesterday – so, if you have having trouble, go back and you will find the answers you need there. Good luck with it!
Friday 7 March 2008
I spent the whole day today on North Page and hunting between the Pages and Cape Jervis. Occasionally, I see Little Penguins around here. There are a few on the Pages, but there is not much cover there so most of them are probably based at Granite Island or around Victor Harbour.
Little penguins are sometimes called Fairy or Little Blue Penguins because they are the smallest of the penguin family. Like seals and sea lions, they are totally adapted for their life at sea and can appear clumsy and comical on land. But if you watch them in the water and you will see them in a totally different way. There are lots of videos of penguins on the internet – have a look at a couple. They really do fly underwater even if they cannot fly in the air like most birds do.
In the water, seals are the enemy of penguins because they are both so fast. We sea lions, being much slower don’t pose any threat to them at all. The main predators of penguins are sharks, seals (especially leopard seals) and killer whales. Unfortunately, these days they have other threats. Foxes, dogs and cats can kill penguins easily because they are so slow and virtually defenceless on land. In conservation areas such as Phillip Island in Victoria and Granite Island in South Australia, rangers have to be continually on the watch for these introduced predators.
Islands are safer for Little Penguins than the mainland – because, usually there are fewer introduced predators. It is rather strange watching the fur seals and the penguins together on the off-shore islands. They look like they live together quite happily because on land fur seals are hopeless hunters. In the water it is a totally different story. When the penguins return to their burrows at dusk, the fur seals are often waiting in the shallows for them so they swim as quickly as they can and leap on to the relative safety of the rocks. Because their natural predators mainly hunt at sea, penguins are very cleverly camouflaged. They have black backs so any large seabird flying overhead has difficulty seeing against the backdrop of the ocean. But they have white belles, so if any seal or shark swimming below them looks up, the white camouflages them against the sky.
Personally, because they are so fast, I couldn’t catch them no matter what colour they were. These guys can catch sardines.
I don’t know what to do tonight. The sea lions on the Pages are getting more aggressive. The mothers are guarding their pups and the males are guarding their females and I am feeling distinctly unwelcome. I swam back towards the Pages, took one look at the place and changed my mind and turned around. I think I will either stay at Cape Jervis tonight or explore the coastline.
Thursday 6 March 2008
Well, its been three weeks next Tuesday since my Team anaesthetised me to carry out my health check and glue the satellite tracker on me to make sure I am still behaving like a normal sea lion and not just being a beach dweller living on human scraps and hand outs. I think I have proven that I am more than capable of swimming, diving and doing all the things that healthy sea lions do. I haven't told you this before, but one of the things I like about the Pages Islands is that it is breeding season and there are a lot of very attractive female sea lions here at the moment. Sea lions only breed every 18 months, so a healthy male does not let the opportunity slip past him! I expected the younger males to throw me out in no time flat but, so far, they have let me stay here – and I'm loving it. I will come back to Adelaide , but not right now.
The batteries in my satellite thing will probably last another three weeks, so this is around about the half way mark of my diaries. I have really had fun telling you about what I am doing. Since I started my diary, I have told you lots of things about me, sea lions and some of the other animals that live with me in the ocean. While I was lazing around the Pages Islands, I thought how nice it would be if some of you had the opportunity to meet sea lions in real life so, I decided to host a competition.
The winner will receive a family get away weekend to Kangaroo Island for two adults and two children - including ferry transport, two nights accommodation at your choice of the Heritage Accommodation at either Cape Willoughby, Cape Borda or Cape du Couedic, and a family Kangaroo Island Tour Pass which includes Seal Bay Conservation Park so you can see the sea lions there. As a souvenir, the winner will also be given a Seal Bay tee-shirt. There will be 18 prizes for the runner ups, 9 family passes to Seal Bay and 9 tee-shirts – you choose which consolation draw you would like to enter if you do not win the major prize.
**** ENTER THE COMPETITION ****
This competition has been sponsored by the Department for Environment and Heritage to celebrate Sea Week and to encourage people to appreciate the incredible wildlife and wild places in our state of South Australia .
The competition will close at 5.00 pm on Monday 31 March 2008.
I know you have a long weekend coming up which give you a good opportunity to have a go at my quiz. Good luck and I will speak to you soon.
Wednesday 5 March 2008
I spent the day lazing around the Pages Islands and doing a bit of hunting today – nothing too strenuous. I am just enjoying the sunny weather we are experiencing here at this time of year. The weather in the Backstairs Passage can be terrible in winter. Really cold, horizontal rain and incredible winds are not uncommon.
Anyway, I promised to tell you about the survey of the Pages islands that was done last week. Every pupping season, the rangers from Kangaroo Island come over three to five times to count the seals and sea-lions in our colony. The first survey for this season was conducted on 2 March. First of all, a helicopter touched down. They are pretty loud but, with the normal commotion of the colony, the additional noise is hardly noticed by any of us. Two people climbed out of the helicopter and it disappeared leaving them on the island. As you know, I am very used to people so seeing a couple on my own turf isn’t a hassle to me. The rangers were lucky this time – the weather is lovely. Breeding season can extend for up to six months so by the end of it I expect the rangers who come over to count us and the new pups will have the worst of the weather the Pages Islands can offer - but right now, the weather is at its very best.
The Pages Islands are virtually all rock. I will attach a couple of photos so you can see what I mean. That makes the survey easier for the rangers because little animals like pups and penguins can’t hide from them so everyone gets counted. The rangers walk around in a grid pattern to make sure they don’t miss anything.
| Bulls | Unclass | Black Pups | Moulted Pups | Dead Pups | NZ Fur Seals | |
| South Page | 12 | 97 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| North Page | 48 | 199 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| Totals | 48 | 232 | 19 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| South West Reef | 108 | 528 | 28 | 0 | 6 | 19 |
Just a quick explanation. Bulls are adult male sea-lions. They are quite a bit bigger than females. “Unclassified” means females and juvenile males, it is often difficult to differentiate females from young males so they are counted together. Black pups are the real youngsters that have not moulted for the first time yet. When they moult, their fur becomes lighter until, eventually, they have their adult coat. It’s too early in the pupping season yet to have any pups that have moulted. The pups don’t go into the water until they are bigger and have more fat on them. The fat gives them insulation and helps them float – really little tackers would not last long in the open ocean, they need to grow up a bit first. Unfortunately, there are always some pups that die. Often that is because the bulls are so big and heavy and they keep showing off to impress the ladies. They have mock fights and then one turns and runs from the other – but, if there is a pup in the way, it can be trampled in the excitement of it all. We bulls are pretty clumsy and sometimes we just flop down on the rocks and a pup that we don’t notice is underneath. As you know, a male sea-lion can weigh up to 300 kg. Those pups don’t stand a chance.
The rangers saw a couple of very lucky sea-lions while they were here. Apart from pups being squashed by adults, the two most common causes of death of sea-lions are shark attacks and becoming tangled in human rubbish like ropes, nets and the other stuff they leave in the oceans. The rangers saw one female sea-lion with a shark bite on her lower back – she survived and got away. They also found a sea lion tangled in human rubbish. Unfortunately that one headed into the water when he saw the rangers approach so they could not pull the tangle off him.
I really hope that sea-lion is here next time they survey the Pages so the entanglement can be removed or he will probably die. Even more, I wish people would not leave their rubbish in our oceans and make us to get tangled in it in the first place.
Tuesday 4 March 2008
This morning I had a huge feed of cuttlefish then hauled out at the Cape Jervis boat ramp to watch the SeaLink ferry depart the mainland and head over to Kangaroo Island. I bet most of the tourists go and visit Seal Bay while they are there – about 100,000 do so every year. Seal bay is an important sea lion breeding colony, which can be easily accessed by the public. There are guided tours and board walks so people can get close to the animals without disturbing them or destroying the environment they came to admire. It’s a really neat place – but as a sea lion, I think it should be called Sea Lion Bay – we are not just seals! Anyway, I’m being overly sensitive. I hope the visitors have a great time, whatever they call us!
Had a super feed of cuttlefish this morning. They are getting ready to spawn in a few months, so they are getting very big and tasty. A big one weighs almost 2 kg so its is pretty much a meal in itself. Having a full belly, I went straight into sleep mode after that. Good food, sunshine and sleep on a boat ramp. What more could a sea lion want.
Cuttlefish hide out under rock crevices, so they can be hard to find. They are also incredibly camouflaged, changing colours to match their surrounds. They’re relatively slow moving once you find one though, so as long as you can reach them in their rock crevice, they’re relatively easy to catch for a big slow sea lion like me. It takes time and patience, but when you find one, it pays off really well.
Sea lions grab hold of the cuttlefish and shake their heads, tearing off large chunks off flesh. Cuttlefish have a big cuttle bone, which often washes up on the beach. Its easy to tell the ones that sea lions have been eating because they leave tooth marks in the bone. Penguins eat cuttlefish as well - and they leave beak impressions. So if you are walking on the beach and find a cuttle bone, have a look at it. There is a reasonable chance you will be able to work out what ate the fish.
The only thing wrong with cuttlefish is that they have very large beaks, about the size and shape of a cockatoo’s beak. They can be scratchy to swallow, and they’re not digestible, because they’re made of the same stuff as human fingernails (keratin), so we vomit up the beak and other remnants after we have digested all the good bits. I have often vomited these on Adelaide beaches and boat ramps, people don’t like to watch, but hey, that’s their problem. What is strange is that the scientists are really interested because it tells them exactly what I have been eating. They can work out both the species and exact size that the cuttlefish was, just from the dimensions of the beak! It is strange to see these learned people collecting a sample of sea lion vomit.
I have been sloshing around at the boat ramp at Cape Jervis for a few days now …maybe I'll haul out there for the rest of the day, but I reckon I’ll return to North Page Island again tonight.
Oh, one other thing, the survey of the sea lion population at the Pages, that I mentioned a while ago was conducted the other day. I will tell you all about that tomorrow.
Monday 3 March 2008
Well, it is another lovely sunny day at the Pages Islands today. The oldest of the sea lion pups in the colony are a couple of months old now so they are still too young to venture into the water and they just spend the entire day playing or lying on the rocks while their mothers are out hunting. It is a pleasure to watch them. They don’t have to worry about sharks or being tangled in ropes and rubbish in the water, or being hit by boats or any of the other threats that adult sea lions worry about. Seals and sea lions are distant relatives to dogs and bears and, like them we are very intelligent. Play is a way for young animals to learn how to interact with others and to establish dominance within their groups. But the kids don’t realise that their games are really important in social species like sea lions, it is something that is fun to do until Mum comes back - and its fun for older sea lions like me to watch.
I did a bit of fishing this morning, but I am sort of getting into the flow of the Pages sea lion colony. The mornings are always noisy and a hive of activity. Then, as the day draws on and gets hotter, the animals that are not out fishing chill out on the rocks and laze their way through to the early evening. In the evenings, the winds come up cooling the place down. With the ocean all around, the breeze acts like an evaporative air conditioner.
While I was fishing, I was lucky enough to see a Smooth Stingray – but not lucky enough to eat it! The Smooth Stingray is the largest of all the Australian stingray species. They grow to 4.3 m in length, and 2 m wide and can weigh up to 350 kg. That is considerably more than the weight of an adult male sea lion – and I am still a bit on the skinny side.
Stingrays live in most of the coastal areas around mainland Australia, from the open sea to many kilometres upstream in brackish water. They live on the ocean floor and feed on shellfish, crustaceans and worms. Stingrays catch them by burying themselves in the sand so that only their eyes and sometimes a bit of their tails are visible. When they are frightened, they take off creating a huge cloud of sand and scaring whatever it was that disturbed them.
Stingrays are not nasty animals but of course they will defend themselves. If they think they are being attacked, they swing their tail and a spine on the end of it hits their attacker. This can be a really serious injury. It causes severe cuts and can penetrate very deeply. Some spines are 35 cm long – which is longer than a school ruler – and they are very sharp. To make it worse, the spine also has poison sacs on it so a stingray wound is extremely painful. Like most marine animals though, if you leave them alone, they will leave you alone. And when they swim, they look like they are flying. Stunning really. If you are interested in having a look at stingrays and some of the other wonderful animals that share my ocean, check out the Australian Museum website. There are some great video clips of some very interesting creatures here.
http://www.amonline.net.au/FISHES/movies/index.cfm#smoothstingray
Stingrays are food to sea lions so we don’t leave them alone, and they can be dangerous. To make sure we don’t get stung, we often kill them by flinging them around like frisbees, and eating them in bite-sized pieces. This guy was probably a bit too big for me to tackle – after all I am a middle aged, slightly skinny sea lion but he was worth checking out. I guess I was a bit cautious because I heard that an adult male sea lion on the West Coast of Eyre Peninsula was killed by a stingray barb through the chest and his body was washed up on a beach. Having survived seven shark bites, I have no intention of ending up being killed by a stingray. So, I slowly and carefully checked him out, to see what would happen and to find out if he was fair game. Yep, should have guessed, that tail flicked and just missed me, then he took off in a huge cloud of sand leaving me with nothing but a face full of grit and bruised ego. Next time I will either leave big rays alone or move faster. Thank goodness nobody was watching, that was just so embarrassing.
Anyway, time for me to grab a nap before I even think about hunting again. Ill speak to you tomorrow.
Sunday 2 March 2008
It was a beautiful morning here at Cape Jervis today. The KI ferry left while it was still pretty early, and the water was still. It was like a postcard, with the sun behind me and the ferry pulling out in front.
On the cliffs behind me, I could see some people with ruck sacks on their backs. They must have been setting out on the Heysen Trail. This trail was established in 1969 and is the longest trail of its type in the world. The trail was named after Hans Heysen who did some wonderful landscape paintings – and, for its entire length, the trail has fantastic views of the South Australian landscape. It extends all the way up to Parachilna Gorge in the Flinders Ranges, 1200 kilometres north of here. If you would like to know more about it, please check out: http://www.heysentrail.sa.gov.au/heysen_trail/index.htm
Today is the first day of Sea Week. This is a whole week where people are reminded about the importance of the oceans and the animals and plants that live in them. There are lots of threatened species living off the coast of South Australia and it is important that people care about and protect animals like the blue whales, the gannets and the fur seals that I have been describing to you in my diary over the past week or so. But most important (well, to me anyway) is that people care about sea lions. Recently, my species was formally declared to be “vulnerable” which means there is a chance sea lions could become extinct, which is more than a bit of a worry really. The world would be a sadder place without us and all of the other wonderful things that share our underwater world.
After enjoying the sunshine and the scenery for a while, I started to get hungry again. Its amazing how spending time at the beach always makes you hungry, so I dived into the ocean and headed back towards my favourite hunting spots between Cape Jervis and the Pages. I decided to stay on North Page for the night and listen to that howling wind and the sea lion colony commotion and confusion that is typical of the place.
I wonder if they are missing me in Adelaide. I bet they are wondering where I have gone.
Saturday 1 March 2008
Well, today I went fishing again around Cape Jervis and decided to haul up there for a while. I was just lazing around and saw one of the biggest ships I have seen for a long time cruising past. It was the Queen Elizabeth II on her way to Adelaide. When I say big, I really mean big! This vessel looked like a metal iceberg. It is 293 metres long. That is longer than the Rundle Mall. The tallest building in Adelaide is the Westpac Building (which used to be called the Santos Building). That is 135 metres high so, if you stood the QEII on its end, the Westpac building would only be half as high. Now you know what I mean when I say big! Apparently, the QEII has 750 berths and is on her way to become a floating hotel in Dubai so she will not be passing this way again. I think the biggest vessel I have ever seen was a few years ago, when I was lazing around at Glenelg. That was a huge oil tanker on its way to the Pt Stanvac oil refinery. It was called the Hyundai Sun and weighed 300,000 tons.
Quite a few large vessels pass through this way. The tidal currents in Backstairs Passage can make it quite treacherous so they are always careful. The first big boat that came through was the Investigator in 1802 with Matthew Flinders as the Captain. In fact, he named Kangaroo Island, because the kangaroos were a welcome source of fresh meat, and Backstairs Passage, because it was the back way around Kangaroo Island; and the Pages, because only servants used the backstairs and the pages were servants at that time. He must have thought the two islands looked like servants waiting quietly for something. Lots of the place names that Flinders used were linked to each other and told the story of his voyages. He also named Memory Cove - in memory of eight of his crew who drowned after setting out in a long boat. The eight men (Smith, Lewis, Grindal, Taylor, Williams, Little, Hopkins and Thistle), were never recovered, despite Flinders and his remaining men searching frantically for the next 3 days. And so Flinders named the 8 islands surrounding the Cove, after his lost men and named the nearby cape, Cape Catastrophe.
Cape Jervis is the location of the ferry that connects Kangaroo Island and the mainland. I hauled out about a kilometre from the ferry wharf so as I was lying on the beach, I could see the people moving around the wharf and, when the wind was right, I could hear them speaking. I do sort of miss people even though they have caused me problems in the past.
I think I will stay here tonight and just enjoy the scenery. That’s what sea lions enjoy doing the most. Then tomorrow I might head back to the noise, smell and general commotion of the Pages Islands. But tomorrow is another day and I will decide then.