Scumbags

Sea Gulls Feasting

I was driving home from Parksville the other day and as I passed by French Creek I happened to glance over to see an extraordinary sight. Twelve million sea birds on the small beach behind the harbor. I pulled in to take a closer look.  As I drove in to the parking lot and looked the other way I saw something even more amazing. Right in the middle of the marina, where the fishing boats unload and the Lasqueti Island passenger ferry docks was a congregation of huge sea lions, about 8-10 of them. A few were swimming around but most were staying put in their group, rafting. I hurried home to collect spouse and camera and went back for a closer look.

Sea Lions in the harbor at French Creek

It is Pacific herring spawning season on the coast, aka lunch. Up and down the coast you will find these huge groups of sea birds and mammals, along with eagles and herons, feasting on the fish and roe. Between the chattering of the gulls and the barking of the sea lions the place was a mad house. I had only seen a sea lion in the wild once before, from a whale watching boat in Tofino. This was a HUGE thrill.

As I walked around the marina, watching them from different angles I noticed a sailboat motoring into the marina. I soon became aware that they (there were two guys on board) were a) traveling faster than they should be in the marina, and b) they were heading straight towards the group of sea lions in the water. Unlike a couple of other boats who had earlier left the marina traveling super slow and keeping well clear of these mammals, to my horror these guys kept on going, not reducing speed, deliberately targeting these huge creatures. At the very last minute the sea lions screamed and scrambled out of the way. They would have been hit, no doubt about it, and I wasn't even sure they had all made it to safety.  The two guys on the boat laughed uproariously, the ugly sound carrying through the marina and then they turned their boat around and headed to their dock.

Shame on them.

Bastards