Day 3 Marine Mammal Center 5/14

Where do I even start?

Another great day at the MMC! We started out the getting animals ready for release and then learning to tube feed elephant seals.

At 9:30am we started crating animals to take on the 50 mile drive to their release at Chimney Rock. It took a bit of hard work and clever thinking but we eventually got three elephant seals, two sea lions & one guadalupe fur seal into an extra cab truck and then squeezed five volunteers in too! We were quite the sight and sound driving through the city! The drive was beautiful and the release was an experience of a lifetime!

Guadalupe fur seals are a threatened species so it was extra special to be a part in sending this animal back to it's home. The animal nicknamed "Furline" had been entangled in fishing debris but had healed well. We released the two sea lionsand the fur seal first and they took off to the water after one last look at us. They are so fast! Rafe got some great video. Then we let the three elephant seals out and as usual they didn't want to move too fast, but with a little prodding they went out in the water and started exploring.

The beach that we released them is closed to the public and had a NOAA sign similar to ours. On the way home we stopped at a lookout with an elephant seal rookery down the cliff and we watched with binoculars and saw some of them feeding in the kelp beds. There were also two harbor seals on one of the smaller islands. (See the pic with the islands)

This area is so beautiful but is known to have the coldest summers in California- we miss our wonderful Hawaii weather! Tonight we switched hostel buildings and found out that the annex is much better with private showers and bathrooms - common use but private nonetheless. Our new room is twice the size of our original "closet" so we are now living in hostel luxury! We had a wonderful dinner getting to know the Greek biologists and each sharing more information about our Hawaiian monk seals and Med monk seals. We learned so much! Tomorrow is another day and we can't wait!

Aloha, Jen, Rafe & Dana