20-03-2025
Spearfisherman's rare encounter with sea lion prompts full-water rescue
A free-diving spearfisherman was suddenly rendered helpless after a rare encounter with a sea lion Monday morning off San Diego.
Thomas Henman, 19, was spearfishing about 200 yards off the La Jolla Children's Pool. He had just speared a sheepshead and went to grab it when a sea lion blindsided him, knocking his mask off.
"The sea lion came right over top of me, grabbed, I think the GoPro with its mouth or something, knocked my whole mask off," Henman told ABC 10News.
He lost his mask and GoPro, along with his speargun. In the process, his contact lenses were knocked out, prompting him to call the lifeguards for help.
"It was definitely like they turned it into like a full-water rescue thing,' Henman told ABC 10News. 'I couldn't see, cause I can't see like 5 feet in front of me, so I didn't want to just come up on the shore, like with the rocks and get swept in.'
Henman got a spare mask and went back to retrieve his speargun but couldn't find the GoPro.
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'The intermingling of sea lions and people has been a hot topic in La Jolla for years,' ABC 10News reported. 'In 2023, the San Diego City Council voted to close the Point La Jolla bluffs year-round to protect the mammals. That area is between the Children's Pool and La Jolla Cove.'
Sierra Club Seal Society Chair Robyn Davidoff told ABC 10News that it is recommended that people stay at least 50 feet from the sea lions.
'I think this is a very unusual situation,' she told ABC 10News. 'We have hundreds of people swimming in the cove every single day, and we rarely have an incident like this.'
Most believe that the sea lion was going after the speared fish.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Spearfisher's rare encounter with sea lion prompts full-water rescue
