Cold-plunging in the waters of Esquimalt Lagoon is supposed to take your breath away. But for two sunrise swimmers, a routine dip got the blood pumping in more ways than one.
Langford locals Ennio Titarenko and Andrew Wierzbicki had barely been in the water five minutes when a bull sea lion surfaced roughly 15 feet away from them.
Titarenko, a former commercial diver, wasn’t bothered by its sudden appearance, but for his pal Wierzbicki, it was a different story.
“I am very afraid of the ocean,” he said. “I’ll go in, but it scares me, just because it’s so huge – it’s the most powerful force on earth, in my opinion.”
As the beast loitered nearby, a nervous Wierzbicki began slowly backing out of the water – Titarenko, meanwhile, stayed calm.
“I’ve been engulfed by sea lions at one point,” said Titarenko. “So I’m really comfortable with them. So it didn’t really phase me.”
But the mood shifted fast when the large male sea lion edged closer, suddenly lunging out of the water towards the pair. This time, both men made a hasty retreat to shore.
“It was game over for me at that point – there was no way I was dealing with that guy,” said Wierzbicki. “He’ll win every day on his own turf for sure.
“I tried to run out of the water as fast as I could, but I wear these water shoes … I swear I’m probably never gonna wear those shoes again, because when I was trying to run, they were like cinder blocks on my feet.”
Just as quickly as it charged, the bull disappeared again, leaving the pair convinced the encounter was a territorial warning.
“He was just doing that to scare us,” said Titarenko. “I knew that he had no intention of biting us or hurting us. He just wanted us to get out of the water.
“And I heeded that warning.”
“He was definitely asserting his dominance,” adds Wierzbicki.
The friends are regulars at Esquimalt Lagoon, plunging up to three times a week. Wierzbicki also leads the Cold Plunge Crew, which meets every Sunday morning at the lagoon for a bracing group dip.
Seals, otters, orcas and sea lions are all familiar sights at the lagoon, but Monday morning’s (Nov. 24) close encounter was a first for both men – and, as it turns out, a stroke of luck to have caught on camera.
Titarenko says he almost never brings his filming gear to a routine plunge. But on this morning, with his equipment on hand, the pair decided to seize the opportunity to film some social media content for their business Vic City Saunas, which is hosting a New Year’s Day event offering folks the best of both worlds – a group cold plunge with a shoreline sauna.
Additional footage was also captured by another member of the Cold Plunge Crew, who spotted the sea lion circling the swimmers.
“It’s a great story and I’m happy we got it on video,” says Wierzbicki.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada was invited to comment on the video, but did not reply in time.
Despite the scare – and the viral-worthy footage – neither plans to stay out of the water for long.
“It won’t put me off at all,” Titarenko said. “We’ll be out there again this week.”
Wierzbicki agrees.
“This was a one-off out of hundreds, maybe thousands of dips,” he said. “I’ll be a little more aware, but it’s not going to scare me out of the ocean. We are in his home – I respect the animals, and there’s a big ocean out there, we can both share the same beach at the same time.”