Sea Animal Hospital

In keeping with exploring our area this past weekend we heard about a seal hospital.

Our coast has tons of seals, sea lions and the like. (Which also means sharks - YIKES! Not too long ago a few "adolescent" Great White Sharks were caught by fishermen off a pier we frequent. WHAT?!) Those seals and sea lions are often subject to boat propellers, shark bites, and other injuries.

When sea mammals are found wounded they come to this hospital.

The hospital cares for pinnipeds (seals and sea lions, no dolphins) from as far south as San Diego to as far north as Santa Barbara (I think). That's a big stretch of coast to cover!

1. Sea lions swimming laps. They kept going back and forth, back and forth in their pool.
2. Who knew how HUGE sea lions are? That guy was a beast!
3. Such a distinguished looking fella.
4. The seal I pointed out kept sliding around his cage on his belly. It was hilarious.
All are such cute animals, too bad they smell so fishy.

Marcus gobbled it all up. The animals really captivated him, especially when the animals would "talk" to us. The boy couldn't take his eyes off the creatures.

This dude was kind enough to wave good-bye as we left.

We will be going back for more visits. And, after a little research I discovered the hospital is always in need of volunteers Wouldn't it be awesome to hang out, up close and personal, with these guys?