Curious and intelligent, young sealions love to play with anything in the water, be it fragments of shell, small round stones, passing dolphins and lately, those odd wetsuited two legged creatures who come to visit their colony in a boat.

The once-in-a-lifetime chance to visit and swim with a colony of wild sealions exists in only a few places in the world, including the Galapagos islands in Ecuador and our very own South Australia. Based in the tiny shack community of Baird Bay, on SA's Eyre Peninsula (human population 8), Alan and Trish Payne regard the wild sealions as their surrogate children and take visitors to swim with them daily. The tour also includes a chance to swim with the wild dolphins who inhabit the bay.

As the boat approaches the sealion's 'playpen', a shallow tidal pool behind the reef that protects the bay from sharks, the young pups are already swimming towards it, leaping several feet out of the water in their excitement. Once the swimmers have donned their snorkels and masks and slipped into the water, the pups, shy at first, quickly get close enough to nuzzle up and be stroked before whisking away, swimming in circles and encouraging their visitors to frolic around in the water with them. Stretch out a hand, and some pups cradle it gently between their flippers before nibbling on it with the gentle motion of giant puppies.

Meanwhile, their elders approach more slowly, before sinking to the sea floor and resting comfortably on their backs to survey the antics going on above them. An hour flies by, and when the boat leaves the pups are still splashing around on the horizon, their energy undimmed.

This is a truly magical experience, made all the more impressive by the fact that the sealions have never been baited or fed in any way to encourage them to approach humans — they interact only because of their naturally friendly and playful natures.

Related video: Swimming with sea lions in Baird Bay