Santa Cristobal Island
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THE NEW ARRIVALS
…but this time not of the human kind! After weeks of believing that the female sea-lions here were truly huge, three new babies have just been born all within a week of each other and are all residing on the same beach.
At the first news I heard, I ran down excitedly to the shore to witness this miracle of nature. When I arrived, I was surprised to find how big these newborns were and at first dismissed the young cub who lay between the lava rocks, half in, half out of a warm pool of sea water. But sure enough, not two metres away lay a large red placenta covered in sand indicating that this was in fact one of the new arrivals.
As they lay side by side snuggled up and sleeping happily, I gazed in wonderment at this amazing sight. But it wasn't long before their blissful peace was disturbed by a huge noisy bull who craned his neck up from fitful sleep and decided to start shouting like a grumpy man with a sore head. Whisked from restful doze, mother and child stirred in agitation as this macho squawked and barked at anything that lay in his way.
Suddenly the little one was making noises, at once both irritated and a little frightened as his mother moved an inch away. He fumbled up onto his tiny flippers and melted my heart with the cute yelps that escaped from his little whiskered mouth. It wasn't long before mum placed a protective flipper on him and pulled him into the comfort of her stomach to calm his cries.
Within no time at all he was searching for a feed and sucking noisily at her side, unable to find the source of milk as she lay in a way that made it impossible to find the teat. Seemingly un-fussed by this, he continued to suck most anywhere up her side making soft clicking noises and just happy to be with mum. This spectacle of nature touched me to the core and left me brimming with tears.
The next afternoon I found all three cubs crawling on the beach; one with mum and the other two alone. As a beautiful orange sunset filled the sky behind, a small crumpled cub wobbled unsteadily from side to side as he attempted to crawl around. He was waving his head loosely about as though he could hardly see and didn't quite seem to know what to do with himself. He bided his time by biting his toes then cleaning his head like a cat.
At one point he found a small white object which he took in his mouth then fell clumsily to the side, rolling in the sand. A huge bull lay nearby, unusually calm as two older sea-lions played in the waves but I started to worry that perhaps he'd been abandoned by mum. To my relief, the next morning I found three cubs on their lazing mums who lay on their sides with contended smiles, and with peace of mind I carried on my day without worry.