We could hear the cacophony of a colony of sea lions from where we parked, so we decided to head in their direction first, before riding west
as planned. The ‘colony chorus’ was coming from the East Mooring Basin, where a
dock had been taken-over by sea lions. They completely covered the dock
surrounding every slip, and were barking up a storm. While it was a real hoot
for us as onlookers, it’s actually a problem for the fishermen who want to use
this dock. The marina continues to try various tactics to discourage the sea
lions from this location, including stringing up beach balls between the
pilings, as well as building railings and hanging colorful flags all along them!
A variety of solutions employed have worked for a while, but none permanently.
Actually, because these creatures are protected by federal law, and their population is burgeoning, the problems are bigger than just this basin and this
is a hot topic. Without knowing any of this in advance, we really did enjoy this little detour at the start of our ride.