30 paintings in 30 days, American Samoa, Day 30

The Steve Irwin visiting American Samoa

     One evening last week a ship entered the harbor and as it drew near the unusual paint job caught my attention. I grabbed my camera and managed to get a quick shot before it passed out of view. When I found my glasses, dang if it wasn’t the Steve Irwin, Sea Shepherd’s flagship. Sadie’s by the Sea is not far from where the ship docked for a week. The crew often visited the café or as the owner put it when I asked if he’d met any of the crew, “Yeah, they’re crawling all over the place.” What fun.

    

     Defending whales in the Southern Ocean from harpoon cannons requires nerves of carbon fiber. They are dedicated crew of adventurer’s protecting wild animals at all cost in an International Sanctuary from poachers. It’s bloody cold and risk is a between meal snack. I could not help being a little star struck. I didn’t ask a lot of questions even though I wanted to, but I will follow their news, hope they stay safe and achieve their goal of zero whales killed by the Japanese fishing fleet this year. To donate to their cause visit seashepherd.org. They are amazing people doing incredible things and it was a privilege to meet them. 

Tamara, Hillary and Amber

Captain Rog, Veteran helicopter pilot

breakfast at Sadie's 

Blessing, shortly before departure

loading local fare

             

under way, with escort

Good Luck!