On our last day in Peru, we had to spend the morning tracking down a missing covid test so that we would be able to fly home the next day. The hotel concierege was awesome and he made all the phone calls for us so that everything was done in Spanish to hopefully simplify the situation. With our half day left, we had a lot of options (I was torn because I really wanted to take a tour of Lima and see the older parts of the city), but we decided to take a tour to swim with sea lions. Our hotel concierge made all the arrangements for a tour with Mar Adentro Excursions and a driver picked us up at the hotel. It was a 25 – 30 minute ride to the Callao District where we joined four others and a tour guide. After a short walk to the pier, we were on a boat and on our way to the Palomino Islands.
Once we were past the docks, the ride through the islands was beautiful.
There were many varieties of birds. I was surprised to see so many pelicans. It was fun to watch them on the rocks as well as skimming along the surface of the sea.
And penguins! Who doesn’t love a cute little penguin?
After about 30 minutes, we arrived at the area where the sea lions were hanging out. There were SO many of them! And they were really noisy. I tried to insert a video here, but it wouldn’t work. But trust me, it was a dull roar of sea lion speak.
I was really hoping that big bull wouldn’t decide to join us in the water LOL.
We sat and listened to them for a few minutes and then we changed into wetsuits. Then we just sort of slid into the water. We weren’t really given any instructions other than not to jump and make a big splash and to try and float on our backs with our feet out in front of us. I’m assuming that was to keep the sea lions away from our faces, but they didn’t really say. It was hard keeping our feet up in front of us for so long, but it was SO FUN! The sea lions were really curious and playful. They swam under us a little, but mostly stayed out in front of us. I had one nibble my toes a little and one of the other girls had a young pup come up and lay his head on her chest for a minute.
I was glad that we didn’t really have time to think about whether swimming with sea lions was a great idea or we probably wouldn’t have done it. For one thing, sea lions are shark food. There aren’t any sharks in the area, so it’s really safe, but, I suppose we could have been bitten. And boy oh boy, the water was FREEZING! Even with the wetsuits. If I’d thought about how cold it was likely to be, I probably would have backed out. My teeth chattered all the way back to the pier after we were done. But, in the end it was so worth it. What an amazing experience we had – and one we’ll never forget!
Swimming with the sea lions was such a great way to end our trip to Peru. Our trip was much too short and there is so much more to see — I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to go again someday!