Sealions are not small creatures when you get close to them.  However, the ones you more normally come across have a larger relative.  The Stellar Sealion is a big beast of a creature.  The females are large and the males are huge.  When we used to visit Ano Nuevo, you could see the Stellars out on the island.  What looked like large rocks were actually the males.  These things are big.

A colony of them was hanging out on some rocks we came across during our trip to go whale watching.  They were basking on the rocks or swimming in the waters nearby.  The boat was able to get quite close to the rocks so we could see the sealions out enjoying the sun.  Seals and sealions seem to be very happy when they are dozing on the rocks in the sun.  We weren’t close enough to disturb them but we were close enough to get a good look.