The mermaid of Coral Cove

Chapter 6 Sea Lion Island

I climbed out of the water onto the beach behind Katie and Amber. We were on a rocky island with pine trees clustered in huge groves.

"We have to be careful because sometimes people come out here for picnics, but other than that we're good!" Amber said.

"If it's private then what are we doing here?" I asked.

"Because it's owned by my uncle, he holds the annual fishing tournament on the other side of the island every July." Amber replied.

"What do you do here, I thought Coral Cove was your hangout." Katie said as she combed her fingers through her hair.

"I come here to see the baby seals, my Uncle told me not to tell anyone else because he doesn't want any other people coming and disturbing the baby's and mothers, but I'm telling you guys because your.... well... my best friends!" Amber smiled.

Katie and I gasped in delight. "BABY SEALS!?" We squealed. "LETS GO SEE THEM!" We jumped up and down like toddlers excited to meet Santa.

"Ok but no getting to close to them or the mothers might freak out." Amber laughed as she headed off down the beach.

Katie and I exchanged an excited glance and ran to catch up with Amber.

We headed up the beach upon a well worn path into the pine groves, we followed that path until it made a left and led us to the beach again.

We stopped at a large cluster of rocks and climbed up to the top quietly.

When I looked over the edge I gasped, the entire beach was covered with the brown black bodies of sea lions.

I spotted a bunch of little ones playing in the shallows or sleeping with the other seals.

"They are so cute!" Katie gasped.

"I wish we could play with them!" I exclaimed.

"Actually, we can." Amber smiled.

"But I thought that you said no touching." Katie gave Amber a quizzical look.

"I did, but there are a few mother seals that I know would let us hold their babies if we had big fish tails." Amber replied.

"Great idea lets go!" I said as we scrambled down the rocks and ran into the water, keeping a wide berth between us and the the sea lions. The mothers might be ok with us, but the others might not.

I surfaced a distance off shore and looked down, my tail had appeared.

Amber and Katie were already swimming towards the babies and mothers.

I laughed and dove under the water, flicking my tail as I swam towards shore at an amazingly fast speed.

When I surfaced Amber and Katie were already playing with the babies. The mothers watched from a distance, keeping a careful eye on their babies.

One of the little seals came up to me and climbed over my tail. He looked up at me for a second before splashing around in the water.

I laughed and looked around to see where Amber and Katie were. Amber appeared as though she was counting the baby seals.

Amber must have read my mind because the next thing she said was, "I count the babies whenever I come here to make sure they are all safe. It's part of what mermaids do, we are responsible for protecting the ocean wildlife."

"Where did you learn that?" Katie asked.

"My mom told me, she was born in the ocean."

"Speaking of mothers.. I need to talk to mine..." I said as I worked my way back into the water.

"Where are you going?" Katie and Amber asked at the same time.

"To talk to my mom." I replied.

"I think I'm gonna stay here for awhile." Katie said.

"Yea me too." Amber agreed.

"Ok! Meet you guys at coral cove tomorrow at nine?" I asked.

"Sure!" Was the answer.

I pulled myself out into the water and swam back to the mainland, passing a few boats as I went by, one seemed to be heading towards Sea Lion Island. I stopped and watched it for a little while, it didn't change it's course.

I shrugged, Amber and Katie would be fine.