Category Archives: Sarah’s Corner

Occasional blog posts and interesting tid-bits written by Sarah.

Sarah's Corner

Sarah:  Farley Mowat

THE FARLEY MOWAT VESSEL
THE FARLEY MOWAT VESSEL

On January 10, 2016 we got to see the Farley Mowat, an old coast guard boat, bought by an organization by the name of Sea Shepherd.  There was a very large gathering of people that were interested.When we finally got aboard the Farley Mowat  they took us up into the boat and showed us around. We got to see how things worked, and what type of supplies that they used.

The boat was repurposed and launched in 2015. The boat is a 110ft vessel currently used for the purpose of saving the Vaquita dolphin, a species that only has 100 of its kind left. The Farley Mowat also stops illegal whaling, and helps other types of Dolphins.

The Vaquita dolphin is a solitary animal, that doesn’t have a beak like many Dolphins and lives in the northern part of the Sea of Cortez. It is one of, if not the most endangered species in the world.

THE ENDANGERED VAQUITA DOLPHIN
THE ENDANGERED VAQUITA DOLPHIN

HOW THE FARLEY MOWAT  HELPS: OPERATION MILAGRO II

Operation Milagro II is an operation that helps the Vaquita Dolphins. But while they are doing operation Milagro II they also help other whales and dolphins. There is a protected reserve in the northern part of the Sea of Cortez where the Vaquita live. The Farley Mowat is headed there now. Recently the Mexican President came to give law enforcement small patrol boats to help the Sea Shepherd organization protect the reserve. Once they get to the reserve they find and pull up illegal nets that the Dolphins can get stuck in and suffocate. The nets are put there by pangas, smallish fishing vessels, that go up there to fish.

PANGA
PANGA

Sea Shepherd organization also travels to Japan to help prevent the Taiji Bay dolphin massacre, where the locals trap pods of dolphins in  a small cove,  pick the prettiest one to sell to Sea World, and kill the rest of the pod. The Farley Mowat lures the Dolphins away from  getting trapped by playing dolphin’s sonar recordings in the water to make sure that they get away safely.

Recently, the sailing vessel,belonging to the Sea Shepherd had a sighting of a Vaquita dolphin, which gives everyone proof that the Vaquita are still alive. The Sea Shepherd is a wonderful non-profit organization that inspires me, and I hope that it inspires you too.

Sarah's Corner

Sarah: My Birthday

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Boat-made Lemon Cake
Boat-made Lemon Cake

On January 11, I turned 12. In the morning there was a swimming group that I had been invited to, it just happened that I came on my birthday for the first time 🙂 The swimming group is around 9 am at one of the beaches close to the marina. I will admit, swimming in the ocean scared me a little bit because I don’t have any experience with it, I’m a pool swimmer not an open water swimmer, but I guess I will have to get used to it! We started off into the slightly chilly morning water on a beautiful start of a day. Jane (the other swimmer in the group who is awesome) told me to shuffle my feet in the deeper water so if I touch a stingray it won’t sting me. They only sting when you step on the top of them. Anyways, we shuffled into the water, slowly getting used to it, then slid in. We swam out to the end of the rocky point, then we swam back and forth for a while. The water temperature was quite nice just about pool temp. That day the water was murky, but I went a day ago, and you could see the bottom 9-10 feet down it was amazing. That was great, just getting to swim again.When we finished swimming, we saw a big school of pretty fish swimming around in the shallows, it was really wonderful getting to see them on the way in.

The rest of the day I did a little school, until dad and Sean came back from solar panel shopping. I got to decide where we went for dinner so I chose my favorite restaurant (The Green Tomato.) we got our usual, DELICIOUS fish tacos, with a side of guacamole, we told them it was my birthday, and the waiter grinned ad nodded his head, we had no idea what we were in for. After we finished our dinner  the big speaker that was playing music stopped for a bit until suddenly they start blasting HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!! (Which we realized was the minions from Despicable Me singing happy birthday, it was really funny) all the while they were setting off fireworks in the street (we were sitting outside) and then they brought a big plate of strawberry ice cream and really good cake with beautiful chocolate sauce over the whole thing. It was really fun, and is one of my most favorite restaurant.

The (real) Green Tomato...the bull is fake.
The (real) Green Tomato…the bull is fake.

We then walked back to the Batu, and ate the beautiful lemon cake that mom had baked homemade, with the strawberry ice cream that Sean got for me, and I opened my presents that were decadently wrapped in moms clothes!

I really enjoyed my birthday, and if you ever go to La Cruz, go to the Green Tomato and enjoy homemade tortillas and fresh fish in a delicious fish taco.

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