The gulls are showing no mercy. Not to the elephant seal, not to the eagles, and certainly not to me. I will say that they haven’t been as bad as what I was expecting but it does amaze me that nothing seems to scare them, even animals much larger than them.

Through no fault of his own, the elephant seal has been romping through the grass and squashing nests as he goes. The gulls, as you might imagine, absolutely despise him. He seems rather confused as to why they are dive bombing his head and I was impressed as he nearly bit one out of the air. Last night he managed to lay on top of a nest all night without cracking the eggs and I’m still trying to figure out how. He moved onto a different nest this morning and the nest of 3 eggs is now down to 2. Currently he is back on the original nest except this time he is fully on top of it and I would be shocked if any remain unbroken when he leaves.

I ended my evening by watching a humpback breach in the distance, causing big splashes with its tail slaps. Unfortunately it was too far away for any decent photographs!

Vessels:

• Ecotourism: 30 vessels – most so far this season!
• Private: 8 vessels, lots of boats on the water this morning

Weather:

• Sky: Mix of sun and cloud
• Wind: Low of 1 knots, High of 18 knots – picked up in the afternoon
• Sea: Glassy, small whitecaps late afternoon
• Temperature: Low 13•C, High 24•C

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **