It is the largest in the world and can measure as much as twenty feet across, though the average octopus is about half that size. The many different species of marine life that are found here, provides food for many marine mammals that can often be seen from shore or boat. Off the shore of Long Beach, northern sea lions bask in the warm sun. It is a wondrous sight to see these creatures waddling along the shore, their numbers so plentiful that the rocks along the shoreline cannot be seen. Barkley Sound offers other awesome sights.
Harbor seals pop their heads out of the water to scan the surface for killer whales.
Often they become lunch for the magnificent black and white creatures. During the spring, this area is visited by hundreds of people hoping to catch a glimpse of the pacific gray whale. Pacific Rim National Park is the halfway point where these animals rest and feed while traveling between their summer home in the Arctic Ocean and their winter calving ground off the shores of Mexico. A small number of these creatures stay in the area all summer. They join southbound pods in the fall.