Crafty sea lion slips aboard boat, but won't leave (AP)

FERNDALE, Wash. - No one wants to be stuck with a large, uninvited visitor. Especially a sea lion on a family sailboat. Even more so twice in a day.

Lynnea Flarry was picnicking with her family Sunday afternoon on Clark Island when her daughter-in-law saw what they though was a seal aboard the family's 31-foot Catalina, apparently after taking advantage of a ladder extending into the water from the stern.

Photographs taken by the family show the animal was probably a 2- or 3-year-old female California sea lion, said Sarah Rages, seasonal rehabilitator at Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Friday Harbor. Females of the species often weigh 200 pounds or more when they mature at 5 to 6 years.

Flarry said her son and grandchildren took a dingy back to the boat.

"When they got close (she) hid (her) head behind the lifesaver like a little kid who hides behind a curtain and doesn't realize his toes are sticking out," Flarry said.

One effort after another failed to dislodge the sea lion until Flarry's son used a boat hook to nudge the creature gingerly back to the water.

"It was the strangest thing," Flarry said. "He was on there for more than an hour."

It is legal to remove a marine mammal from private property as long as the creature is not injured, said Brian Gorman, a spokesman for National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle.

"This is a problem up and down the coast, particularly on docks," Gorman said.

The rest of the group went back ashore as Flarry's granddaughter stayed on the boat, taking more pictures as the sea lion swam in circles around the boat. Then the animal climbed back up the ladder onto the boat and resumed sunning itself.

"She was so busy snapping pictures she forgot to bring the ladder up," Flarry said.

Back came the rest of the family to try to evict the sea lion.

"He'd just turn his nose up to the sun and just look at us like, 'I'm here, so what?' It was just the darndest thing," Flarry said. "I've never seen anything so preposterous, and I've been sailing for years and years."

Her 5-year-old grandson begged in vain to keep the sea lion as a pet.

"My grandson was more than willing to give up his bathtub if we could take the (sea lion) home," Flarry said.

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Information from: The Bellingham Herald, http://www.bellinghamherald.com

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