From the crystalline blue waters of the Sea of Cortez, a herd of sea lions hauls out onto the rocky outcropping of a small island halfway between Baja California and the western shore of Mexico. While the boisterous bull lions defend their harems and bark at others who encroach on their space, pups curl around their mothers, often laying directly on top of them to keep from being forced off the chosen resting space. Sally lightfoot crabs, so named for their delicate manner of walking on the "tippy-claws" of all eight legs, rush back and forth along the tidal zone, feeding on algae attached to the rocks.