A giant sea lion has turned a single floating dock at San Francisco’s Pier 39 into one of the most-watched marine mammal spectacles of the year.

An intrepid sea lion nicknamed Chonkers is waddling his way into the hearts of tourists and locals who have flocked to San Francisco’s Pier 39 for a glimpse of the massive pinniped.

"He's so much larger than anything you can imagine, and he's very mellow, and he's, you know, he's got quite a presence when he's here," said Sheila Chandor, harbormaster at Pier 39, a shopping center...