Chris German and his partner Gillian Legendre were out for a seemingly normal hike on Southern Vancouver Island when they stumbled upon something unexpected: a cave filled with sea lions.
“We followed an old trail through the forest, it was difficult to see the trail at times but we kept track of it and followed it till we came out at the ocean and could see the opening of the cave,” said German.
In the video that German took on his phone, upwards of 50 sea lions can be seen rushing into the water from a cave alcove in the waters along the West Coast of Port Renfrew.
The sea lions were quite loud, barking and clambering over the rocks into the Pacific Ocean.
“We were surprised, and excited when we realized there was the cave and even more surprised as we saw how many exited the cave,” German told CHEK News.
The couple says they go hiking quite often, but have never experienced something quite like this, and hope someday, they will be able to again.
On the opposite coast, sea lions created a “once-in-a-lifetime experience” last week for a diver in Nanaimo. A raft of curious sea lions decided to make friends with a duo of divers and tag along for the duration of the activity.
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Rebecca Lawrence
