It’s impossible to swim with Australian Sealions, without a little bit of their happiness rubbing off on you!
You know how it is with wild animals…. often you only get a fleeting encounter as the animal chooses not to stick around. But with the Australian Sealions, as soon as we jumped in the water, they were like instant friends.
They wanted to check us out, as closely as possible! They pressed their noses against our cameras, gently nibbled our fins and excitedly zoomed circles around us. Sometimes they lust lay on the bottom and stared at us.
These sealions choose the most beautiful and remote locations as their home. Here on Western Australia’s Turquoise Coast, they sunbake on picturesque white sand beaches, lapped by clear shallow water. It’s so easy to lose track of time in their stunning underwater playground of gently rippled sand and rocky reef, we really never wanted to leave!
Australian Sealions are found nowhere else in the world except the Great Southern Reef of Australia, and they are an endangered species. Any time we spend with them is a privilege, and only inspires us to care about our amazing blue backyard even more.
Photos by Scott Portelli & Rosie Leaney using Olympus OMD Cameras