Saturday 29 September 2012

Of all the things I wanted to do before I hit 50


30th Sept (morning)

Of all the things I wanted to do before I hit 50 
I can honestly say standing out in a typhoon 
trying to photograph men buying freshly slaughtered 
dolphin meat wasn't one of them. But here I am ...

Up at the usual 5am we weren't expecting the worst 
of the typhoon till late afternoon and left the 
hotel to low winds and calm waters. Only the 
absence of the tourist boats and seeing the fishing 
boats had anchored away from the sea walls reminded 
us it was on its way. 
 
 
We arrived in Taiji to find the banger boats 
safely moored in anticipation of the typhoon. 
We checked dolphins in the sea pens and then sat 
and watched the rains arrive from the south… 
 
Thinking there wasn't a lot we could achieve for 
a while John and I decided to go get supplies. As 
we drove away from the town we passed a very 
surprised meat buyer with his police escort. 
They must have thought we had already 
left. U-turn!! 
 
And one thing lead to another, in u-turning back 
to the butcher house we stumbled across a skiff 
heading towards the cove … why would they be going 
there with the impending weather?!?! So another u-turn 
had us driving to the cove where 8 policemen watched 
us videoing the dolphin hunters remove the last of 
the nets and signs. It was lovely to see the cove 
as it should be.. a place of beauty, a place to be 
enjoyed.. It’s a shame that as soon as this weather 
passes Taiji will transform it back to be their 
dirty little secret, the thing that brings so much 
shame to their town. 
 
Net free cove
 
 
As I type it’s 12.30 and we can hear the winds starting to 
pick up. Soon the Cove Guardians will be going again to 
check the dolphins in the sea pens and my stomach is in 
knots. Not because I’m frightened to go out in the typhoon, 
but because I don’t want to see what I fear we are going to 
see… 


No comments:

Post a Comment