Being a sea lion is hard work. They have to evade predators, avoid vessel strikes (which are often deadly to them) and hunt down all manner of sea life to maintain their weight. So they rest when they can, and where they can — sometimes in places that give us humans a good chuckle.
Joshua Phillips, the owner of a fly fishing equipment shop in Olympia, Washington, captured one of those funny moments on video while motoring along the Eld Inlet off Puget Sound, where two sea lions had decided to hang out on a very small boat in the inlet.
From a distance, it appears that the vessel is covered in a mound of … something. Then, Phillips zooms in on the pair: one is draped across the top of the boat’s little cabin, and the other is perched on the stern, causing it to dip lower than it should into the water.
As an avid outdoorsman, Phillips spends a lot of time on the water and has seen a lot of animals. Yet, he told local newspaper The Olympian, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Phillips posted the video to his Instagram with the simple caption, “Boats and… #sealions.” Hilariously, the sea lions casually watch him as he wonders at the obvious conflict of the boat struggling to support these impressive animals, who seem determined to lounge there despite the noise of his passing boat:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6MY89yB1ND/
“Oh my gosh, that’s so close to sinking,” he says on the video. “That thing eats three more salmon, it’s done for.”
Ha! Good thing a third sea lion didn’t try to get on the boat. Oh, wait …
Phillps wasn’t the only local who captured the scene. In another video, shot from shore by YouTuber Sam L, a third sea lion circles the boat, seeming to search for a way to climb aboard. But the two who have already commandeered the vessel don’t seem keen to share. (Of note: There is an adorable doggo named Phoebe at the 2:10 mark on this video.)
Two different types of sea lions are found in Puget Sound, according to Orca Network: the California sea lion, which can weigh 800 pounds, and the endangered Steller sea lion, which can exceed 2,000 pounds.
I won’t hazard any guesses as to which species is using this tiny vessel as a pool float, but either way, that’s a lot of sea lion on not a lot of boat. Good luck to the boat’s owner!
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories.
