Arrrph arrrpphh! That's seal talk for 'How are you guys?' There has been a swarm of a clear, possibly dangerous marine animal off the waters of Hawai'i! I asked my green sea turtle friend, Hawaiian Brian, who these mystery creatures are.

"Dude, they aren't mysterious creatures! They visit quite frequently here – about 9 to 10 days after a full moon! They're called Box jellyfish and pack a painful sting! Lucky for me, they are part of my diet and their sting doesn't affect me! When they're not here in Hawai'i, they can be found in other tropical places like Australia and the Philippines. These are hard to spot in the water since they are clear. If you ever get stung, vinegar usually stops the sting!
-Hawaiian Brian

-Sanctuary Sam

Hey peeps! Have you done some exploring lately, like hiking, swimming, or biking? Well, you know that if I wasn't working as a spokes-sea lion for the National Sanctuary Program, I would definitely be out there exploring too! But I have as much fun hearing the explorations of my friends!

Have you met my friend Otto the Sea Otter? Well he is always off on dangerous adventures. This time he is exploring the kelp forests off the coast of California. These underwater rainforests can grow as long as ten stories! These forests are the fastest growing plants in the world! They provide shelter and food to many animals like whales, sharks and sea otters!

-Sanctuary Sam

P.S. Did you know that there are many household items that include kelp as an ingredient? Visit this site and scroll down to play "Is Kelp in Your House"!

BOO! Scared yet? Didn't think so, but my friend Dumbo Octopus sent me a snapshot of what he calls, "The scariest creature I've ever seen!"

Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think!

Happy Halloween!
-Sanctuary Sam

Hi friends! As an official spokes-sea lion of the National Sanctuary Program, I like to keep up with the marine news!

Talking trash the other day…my friend, Humpback Harry, has just informed me that his cousin, Humpback Hugo, has finally been freed after being entangled in a fishing net for two hours! Local scientists from the Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary were nice enough to come out and cut it away from his body!

This was a great ending for Humpback Hugo and his family! Sadly, though, Humpback Hugo isn't the only marine animal to get caught up in rubbish! Let's do our part to keep our ocean clean.

Don't trash where you splash!
-Sanctuary Sam

Aloha guys! As an official spokes-sea lion of the National Sanctuary Program, I have been asked to find out what's got the sea creatures all bubbled up about in the Pacific.

It's a good thing that I have friends all over the world! My sea turtle friend, Hawaiian Brian, is surfing in Hawai'i right now! I was able to get a hold of him in the middle of one of his surf sessions to ask him what all the commotion is about.

Well, as you can imagine, he had a lot to say:

"Well dude, I was surfing this gnarly wave in Waikiki yesterday when all of a sudden I wiped out on this major set of garbage that was floating around! It was totally disgusting dude!"

Those were the words of Hawaiian Brian! Looks like our trash is finding its way into the ocean!

Why don't you guys help! If we can all get our friends to help, we can fix this terrible problem! Let's keep our beaches clean: don't trash where you splash! Check out our video here.

A hui hou!
-Sanctuary Sam

Guess what? The National Marine Sanctuary Program has asked me to be its new spokesperson — er, spokes-sea lion! It's a real honor. This is a first for pinnipeds everywhere!

Check out the video of my interview with the sanctuary program here!

The sanctuary program does a lot of wonderful things for the oceans, and I can't wait to get started. I'm sure I'll get to visit tons of interesting places and see plenty of cool stuff, since there are national marine sanctuaries all over the country. They protect special places in the ocean and the Great Lakes, like Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary with its beautiful coral reefs, or Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, home to more than 100 ghostly shipwrecks in the icy cold waters of Lake Huron! Brrrrr!

This is going to be great! I'm glad I found a job with an organization that cares as much about the oceans as I do. From now on, just call me Sanctuary Sam — hey, I like the sound of that!

- Sanctuary Sam!

Hi!
Wow, my first blog post ever! I guess I should introduce myself!

My name's Sam, and I'm a sea lion from California. As you can imagine, I love the ocean! I live at SeaWorld, but I know how important the ocean is to millions of animals — including some of my best friends — and even people! I like swimming, surfing (without a board, of course), and lounging around in the sun…what a life!

But that's not all I do! I'm a sea lion on a mission, and that mission is to teach people about the ocean. I want to let everyone know about how amazing the ocean is and how much it needs our protection. You may not know it, but even though our planet's oceans are so big (they cover about 70% of the Earth's surface!), they are also fragile, and it's up to all of us to keep them healthy.

I hope you'll join me as I explore all the cool places beneath the sea, and help spread the word about how we can all be responsible ocean stewards!

- Sam

P.S.: In case you were wondering, it's not easy typing with flippers, but you know what they say — practice makes perfect! I bet you could even balance a ball on YOUR nose if you practiced it long enough!