As soon as you pay, a pleasant hostess directs you to the best viewing spot for the sea lions. The day we were there (July 1, 2000) the sea lions were all out on the rocks at the mouth of the cave, so we went up the well-kept staircases for a bird's eye view of the lions. We were quite high (see photo), but nonetheless we were still assaulted by the stench of the lions. It was amazing how powerful it was. Without the aide of binoculars the sea lions just looked like worms wriggling around on the coast, so we plunked our quarters into the spyglasses. These animals are funny and territorial, and you could see how the little ones were learning survival techniques through play with the older (and humongous) bulls. Of course Rick was scanning the water for a killer whale hoping to see an attack. None happened, but we were later told that one happened several years ago (children at the scene are still in therapy). In addition to the sea lions, there is much bird life at Sea Lion Caves. Most interesting to me were the black cormorants, which used to be trained by the Japanese to hunt and retrieve fish for them. There are informational signs about the wildlife and habits of the sea lions all along the way that are worth reading.

Finally we took the elevator down into the caves. This was definitely cool and instantly captured my imagination as the perfect place for pirates to hide their treasures. It is a natural sea cave, either the biggest or one of the biggest, in the world. Water flows in one side and continues out the other side, forming a kind of U-path through the cliff. It is easily high enough to hold a small pirate ship! The only drawbacks to this space are that it smells here too, and you cannot take any photos, as the flash will freak out the lions. This rule was completely respected while I was in the cave. They had a complete fossil of a sea lion skeleton, which proved sea lions had been coming to the cave for hundreds of years, as the placards all around explained.