whale talker

The last few weeks have been.....well, different. It is time to start gearing up for the Whale season that is coming up in January (The Humpbacks reach my area in The Sea of Cortez right around the middle of the month). This mainly involves fundraising, giving presentations and rethinking field strategies. It is in it’s own right nostalgic because it has now been 5 years since I began my Whale Studies here. This is a milestone because in the scientific field a reasonable period of data gathering is necessary to establish the truth of one’s hypothesis (mine being the importance of this area for breeding/calving). I have done this. In honor of that I include in this post the following pictures.



This one is of my very first student “interns” down here. Some of you may recognize her. It is Amber Trotter. She chose to take her semester break from Middletown University in 2003 to help me establish my transect for the reef work I had intended to do. On a trip out in a panga one day is when I saw the large number of Whales in the area and reconsidered my research priorities.

The next is of my interns, Lenee Goselin and Kristin Paiva (top & bottom), who volunteered the winter of 2005 to help me do my photo ID work of The Humpbacks.



I already posted the picture of this season's interns (2009) some time back but here they are again anyway. That’s Elizabeth Plumb on the left and Jessica Pletz on the right.



The assistance of all these young women was instrumental in my success in establishing the truth of my hypothesis.

The next picture is of me in my kayak. This kayak has been with me for 12 years now. Her name is Haldjas. That is the name of the ancient pagan goddess of nature among my People, The Estonians. She has been with me on rivers, Lakes, Seas and Oceans. When we leave shore we are as one.



The last picture is of my new resident Spiny Tailed Iguana who enjoys afternoons in the quite solitude of the desert....as do I.



If you have the inclination to donate to my work, please do. My very dear friend and fellow traveler, Susan Janssen, has generously agreed to handle the temporary treasurer duties. Send your donations to me, care of Susan at 106 Canyon Drive, Ukiah, CA 95482. My quest is to establish this area as a part of the new “protected” region for Humpbacks here in The East Cape. I am very close to realizing that dream.