A Deep Satisfaction : Swimming With Sea Lions Offers the Curious a ‘Piece of Heaven’
SANTA BARBARA ISLAND — The night before plunging into dark green ocean waters to swim with the sea lions, Aram Kadish had a lot to think about--and to explain.
Armed with nothing more than snorkel gear, a rubber wet suit and a sense of curiosity, Kadish was preparing to cavort with hordes of the quarter-ton animals.
“I get up and go to work every day and I see these guys who can’t even walk,” said Kadish, 32, an occupational therapist at the Cerebral Palsy-Spastic Children’s Foundation in Van Nuys. “They can’t even go to the bathroom without help. Can’t speak. I feel I should experience everything I can, just because of that.”
Standing in the galley of the Pacific Explorer--a boat bobbing its way to Santa Barbara Island, 35 miles west of Los Angeles Harbor--Kadish concluded: “Quality of life, that’s really what this is all about.”
Kadish’s partners in this unusual overnight adventure said they also felt a calling.
Lori Leach, a 37-year-old medical secretary from Van Nuys, wanted to change careers and become a veterinarian. For her, the trip seemed a test of her resolve to give up a 15-year career.
Nancy Brewer, 45, of Thousand Oaks, said she once dreamed of being an animal trainer at an aquarium such as Sea World. She became a grade school teacher instead. The trip was a chance to escape her workaday world and come face to face with animals she had only experienced from a distance.
Marjorie Lyman, a catalogue saleswoman from Sherman Oaks, tired of listening passively to a colleague’s weekend adventures and decided to have one of her own.
The trip was organized by Learning Tree University in Chatsworth in conjunction with an expedition company, Hydrosphere, and led by Yehuda Goldman, a former member of Jacques Cousteau’s crew.
In the morning, Goldman instructed the snorkelers on the first rule of the sea: “Don’t touch them.” Strict marine laws prohibit harassment of sea lions and other mammals.
Next rule: “Stay together. Don’t step on urchins or anything living. Don’t panic if you get caught in kelp, “ he said.
And, finally, in response to the inevitable shark question, this reassuring news: “There should be nothing down there, no dangerous marine animals of any kind, that can hurt you.”
He explained to the worry-wart contingent that the great white does feed on sea lions--but not here. Water’s too warm, he said.
The snorkelers looked at each other. Then, one by one, they plopped into the calm waters, buoyed by their wet suits. Most gasped or howled as the 60-degree water seeped under their suits before warming to body temperature.
Under the surface was a dazzling landscape of green and yellow. Thousands of black and purple urchins and anemones littered the rocky, gray floor 40 feet below. A trio of striped sea bass swam by. The muted sound of barking and squealing seemed to be getting louder.
Suddenly, sea lions shot by, swimming in spiraling, corkscrew maneuvers--their dark eyes the size of silver dollars open wide and unblinking. The animals circled and somersaulted, arched their backs and jetted past, their fluid movements contrasting with the snorkelers’ uncoordinated paddling.
As the humans surfaced to adjust their masks and get a breath, they looked at each other in wonder, shaking their heads. “Oh my God!” was about all anyone could say.
Goldman has seen that look many times since he began the trips. “It still makes me smile,” he said. “Two different species checking each other out, totally curious about each other.”
Another wave of sea lions--some as big as eight feet--departed from the rocky shore of the square-mile island to join the commotion, peering at the swimmers and sniffing their faces, blowing bubbles and swimming by them within millimeters.
“It’s like a little piece of heaven on Earth,” said Leach, climbing aboard the boat after an hour. “Awe-inspiring. Raw nature. Raw power.”
The experience, she said, bolsters her resolve to become a vet.
“I think I realized, in my heart, that I belong with animals,” she said. “I think I got confidence that I can go out and do this and work with marine animals.”
Said Brewer, who teaches second grade in Simi Valley: “I think it was the best day I ever had, in my life.” She left her husband and teen-agers at home after failing to entice them to join her.
“There was this vicariousness about it, and intimacy,” she said. “For a short time, I was part of their world.”
Brewer was one of only four snorkelers who went back in the water after a lunch break. Some of the others found the experience unnerving.
Lyman had gotten a chill and couldn’t quite get the hang of breathing through a short, plastic tube. But mostly, she said, she felt out of her element. Even so, she agreed it was an experience she wouldn’t soon forget.
Nor would the others.
“What do you take with you from this world when you leave?” asked Kadish, as the boat headed back to Los Angeles Harbor. “Experiences. That’s it. And this was an incredible experience.”
More to Read
Sign up for The Wild
We’ll help you find the best places to hike, bike and run, as well as the perfect silent spots for meditation and yoga.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.