Swimming with the lions of the sea

It’s a scene straight out of a Sir David Attenborough documentary. As I swim up to the beach, 30-odd Australian sea lions — an entire pod, it seems — run down the sand and splash into the water, heading right at me like a pack of hungry dogs.

For a moment, I am petrified. Male sea lions can grow up to 2.5m in length, weigh up to 300kg, and are known to be aggressive defenders of their harems and homes. But these Australian sea lions are all blonde-coloured females, and the only things on their minds is showing off to visitors.

Using their front flippers to dart through the water with ease, they swirl and twist repeatedly, pulling off backflips and somersaults out of the water.

“Amazed” doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel when one courageous sea lion swims right up to me and gently rubs her snout and whiskers in my face. It’s not for nothing these furry critters are known as the puppies of the sea. Australian sea lions were once found in great numbers along Australia’s south coast and as far east as the Bass Strait. But they were hunted without mercy for their leather hides and oil during the first 50 years of European settlement in Australia, and by the 1830s the species teetered on the brink of extinction. Despite enjoying legal protection as an endangered species since 1964, today there are only 10,000-15,000 Australian sea lions left in the wild — and their numbers may still be in decline.

Marine biologists who study them don’t know why, though food shortages as a result of commercial fishing; entanglement in fishing nets; and infanticide by aggressive males are the chief potential causes. Lone Australian sea lions have been seen as far away as New South Wales and Tasmania.

However, the vast majority — between 65 per cent and 85 per cent of the remaining population — are found in the frigid waters, offshore reefs and islands of South Australia.

The largest concentration can be found on Kangaroo Island, though the pod I swam with lives at Seal Cove on Hopkins Island, a rocky outcrop in the Spencer Gulf some 30km south-east of Port Lincoln. Today, the lot of Australian Sea Lions has come full-circle and the species is again in great demand — not for their hides, but for their playfulness and graceful beauty — drawing tens of thousands of tourists to South Australia every year.fact file + Calypso Star Charters in Port Lincoln offers half-day “swim with the sea lion” tours at Seal Cove costing $215 for adults, $155 for children, or $640 for a family of four. sharkcagediving.com.au. + Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions offers more intimate, small-group swimming with sea lion experiences. Its three-day, four-night great white cage-diving trips to nearby Neptune Islands include an unhurried stopover at Seal Cove, plus accommodation, meals and the chance to participate in scientific research for $2395. rodneyfox.com.au.