A few months ago I went to Rocky Point and decided to head out to bird island with some friends… What follows next is just a great story and something I would encourage everyone to try!
Back in August I decided to gather up some buddies and try to head out to bird island to fish and to see the seals and sea lions. I have been hearing everyone talk about what a great experience this place is…. I just had to try it for myself.
I will start with the negative part of this trip…. As you arrive on the island, it smells like urine… So, if you can look past this, the rest is just amazing. This remote island in the middle of nowhere is home to hundreds of sea lions and seals. We had about 5 guys on the boat with us. As you near the island, you see some Sea Lions on top of a rock sort of monitoring who is coming!!! It is pretty funny.
As you drive around into the main part of the island, you are suddenly surrounded by sea lions and seals. If you are crazy enough, you can try to jump in with the seals and sea lions. Out of 5 guys in the boat, guess who tried it? Yup, ME! I will be honest, I have probably never been more scared in my life. They tell you that they will not do anything but how am I supposed to know what a seal or sea lion will decide to do! Well, I jumped in and the first few times, as they came close, I crawled back into the boat. After a few tries, I finally got the courage to swim out a little bit. The seals would come and swim underneath me. They never came close enough for me to touch. What I found interesting is that after a little while, these BIG sea lions decide to start inching a little closer. They are scary. They look like a fat lion that can swim…. They are very loud. As more and more seals came around me, they got louder and louder. That was about the time that I said, its time to get back in the boat.
All and all, it was an experience I will never forget. Swimming around with seals was just awesome. Scary but definitely awesome. Has anyone out there tried this? I would love to hear if anyone has been able to touch the seals?
For those of you who like fishing, we went around to the back of the island, NO SEALS, and fished for about 2 hours. We caught some pretty large trigger fish. We were hoping to catch something different but it was about 90% trigger fish. They are VERY fun to reel in because they are fighters. However, I was hoping for a large fish. Maybe next time!
If anyone out there has any good Rocky Point fishing stories or suggestions on where to go to get large grouper or sea bass, please let us know!!!
See you at the beach
