2023 Galapagos Outer Loop Cruise – Gardner Bay (Espanola), Galapagos Islands

They should rename Gardner Bay “The place where tourist take 500 pictures of Sea Lions. They were so plentiful and completely unafraid of us. We had to almost work to avoid them as they would approach us and lie in the path where we needed to go.

Our naturalist also explained that there is one dominant male who swims back and forth in the water, barking all day to let other males know that this is his territory. They do that for a period of weeks, maybe months, and then another male will come and take his position. This changing of the males who then move on helps promote genetic diversity in a small population.