Sea Lion Caves

It was fun to finally get here. Got my free bumper sticker and some great pictures. My wife also finally saw a whale.

At least I didn’t have to pay for admission!

Overpriced, crowded, and relatively unpleasant. If you’ve neverever seen sea lions, and you’re curious, it might be worth the time and investment, but for me, I wish I still had the $8 per person in my pocket.

It’s really fascinating to watch the sea lions, but WOW do they smell!

I picked up a brochure for this place at one of the hotels we stayed at while driving up to see Mount St. Helens, and it looked interesting enough for me to decide to take the coast route home so we could stop here.

It was SO worth it! It’s the largest cave of its kind in the world, and is home to a large community of Steller’s Sea Lions, as well as a lot of wonderful sea birds and other wildlife. The cave is accessed through an elevator which takes you down more than 200 feet from the level of Highway 101, giving a great view of the activity inside the cave. This is the sort of thing that you can’t see just anywhere; it’s a one-of-a-kind adventure (and for that reason, ranks much higher on my “interest” scale than an aquarium; aquaria are wonderful, but seeing wildlife in their natural habitats is something much more amazing, IMO).

I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves wildlife. Oh, and we were able to watch migrating grey whales passing by in the Pacific Ocean from the lookout near the cave. Very cool. :)