Monday 19 October 2009

Sea Shepherd

The Sea Shepherd organisation were in Martin Place today encouraging people to sign a petition to allow Captain Paul Watson a visa into Australia to allow him to re-join his ship. Apparently the Australian Government is making the Sea Shepherd guys jump through hoops to delay or stop the Steve Irwin heading south to protest this year's whale hunt. Here is a link to Sea Shepherds take on the whole sorry tale.

When we sailed down to Antarctica a few years ago I was looking over the railing and a minke whale swam up along side and swam in formation with us for a while. I still recall that big beautiful eye looking up at us. It was completely obvious she was checking us out. Then with a flick of her tail she turned and headed back out into the Southern Ocean. If you imagine the rubber model (pictured) in Martin Place and remove the ugly harpoon and blood my minke looked exactly like that. She was also turned over slightly on her side to give her a better view of the ship.
Until we went to Tonga a couple of years ago that minke was the first best closest sight of a whale I ever had. It is still special because it was the first and because of where we were. Wander over to the Sea Shepherd website and buy a t-shirt or something.
Speaking of Tonga. My Whaleswim video is coming up 2 years old and has been viewed on Youtube almost 20,000 times. If you haven't seen it before or it has been a while it is right below. Enjoy.

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