What appears to be a sea lion has swum all the way to Somenos Marsh.
sea lion seen
Heavy rain and high tides have raised water levels all over the Cowichan Valley and Rhonda Vertefeuille of Youbou shot a short video on Wednesday, Jan. 31 showing the sea lion swimming in the flooded marsh near the Trans Canada Highway in Duncan.
Then, she uploaded it to her Facebook page. By the following morning, the video had been viewed 45,000 times and shared by nearly 2,000 people.
It really has Valley folks talking.
Comments like: “This guy is so far from home. Must’ve got lost chasting some steelhead maybe?” “Seriously, what’s the closest salt water bay?”
That question got Bob Isbister thinking and he made a map showing where the adventurous creature must have travelled.
He posted it along with the comment: “A screen shot from Google Earth showing the route the sea lion would have followed to ‘get to class’ today at the Open Air Classroom near Duncan, B.C. Distance from the salt chuck at Cowichan Bay measures at 8.8 kms. A perfect storm of very high rainfall over the last three days and a high tide would have made access via the Cowichan River and Somenos Creek very easy.”
