Australian Sea Lion

Neptune Islands is known for their Great White Sharks.  I was nervous about this trip.  This was my first liveaboard and first time seeing Great Whites.  I had only read about doing this and didn’t know anyone on the trip.  It was a long trip with 4 connecting flights but once I got down there, I fell in love with Australia.  It was very clean and everyone was very nice.  I quickly made friends and most of my mates on the 76 foot vessel were from Australia but some were from New Zealand and one nice couple from England.  The trip was only for 4 days and the seas were rough the first day.  Could not see anything.  The second day was good and saw some white pointers.  I did not realize on the last day, on the way back, we were going to be able to swim with sea lions.  The Australian Sea Lion is a threatened species.  The government has restrictions on how long you can be with them.  So, in the protective cove where they were located, you only had one hour to dive with them.  I had to make it count.  We would get our gear on and make our way to the sea lions in raft boats.  We would do a reverse entry into the water and get set up for some shots.  The sea lions came right up to you and were very friendly.  You could never keep up with their agility and speed but I knew they liked my dome.  They could see their reflection in it.  This one was very curious and would put his nose right up to it.  He stayed with me for a minute or so, then took off with his friends.