“Talk to the guys at the Whale Museum,” said the Other Kevin. “They’ll have all the information on Sea Shepherds there is to get.”
Which is exactly what we did. It took us an hour to cross the island of San Juan (which is falsely known as a great place to hitchhike) to get to the museum. We walked into the museum where a lady with a plastic smile was working at the counter.
“Hello, how can I help you?” she smiled at me.
“Hi,” I said, awkwardly. “This is kind of a weird question. We’re looking for Sea Shepherds people and we were told the Whale Museum was the place to go–”
“They’re gone,” she said curtly, smile turning icey.
“What do you mean, gone?”
“Off the island. They moved off in May or April. Fired all their employees.”
“But I heard the head, Paul Watson, still lives here,” I said.
“He comes and goes,” said the lady. “He’s either in jail or on the sea somewhere. Or hiding out.”
“Do you know the name of anyone who used to work with them who would talk to us?”
“One person, but she’s gone home.”
“Well could we have her number or something?” I asked.
“I could take your number, and she could talk to you if she’s in the mood.”
“Yeah sure. And–”
“If you need any more information just Google it,” she said, helpfully.
We weren’t surprised when no one called us back.
“This sucks!” I said later when we were in a cafe, and I was researching fruitlessly. “Do you think she was full of shit?”
“Was it me or was she acting weird?” asked Kevin.
“It wasn’t you,” I said. “But I couldn’t tell if she was just grumpy about the subject or lying. But I can’t imagine that she’d be lying– if she was lying than she would have just said she didn’t know anything.”
I started Googling Captain Paul Watson, this elusive head of Sea Shepherds, someone kicked out of Green Peace for being too radical. The information just made it more frustrating: Watson was funny, a believer in the idea that people are just another animal, a radical vegan, and someone who believed killing animals was just as unjust as the killing of human beings. But contact information was scarce, and he was on too many news shows to be someone who was easy to get ahold of. The last report of where Paul Watson was was when he stepped down as captain two years ago, as well as all the indictments against him by Japanese companies.
I took a leap and just messaged his Facebook page, figuring it was worth a try:
Dear Captain (or whoever runs this page…),
I’m a big fan of Sea Shepherds, and all the work you’ve done, and I really want to ask some questions about the organization. You see I’ve long wanted to be on the crew, but now (I went to San Juan since I was traveling in the area) I here the location is changed and can’t seem to find anyone willing to speak to me about it. Could I please talk to someone who knows what’s going on? Sea Shepherds is the only activist group that seems to be doing the work I really believe in.
So please respond?
Thanks,
Michaela
Little did I expect the response that came in minutes:Sea Shepherd has moved HQ from San Juan Island but you can talk to our people if you are in Seattle.I quickly asked who I should speak to, and was sent an email address. Again to my surprise a response came in an hour:
Hi Michaela,
Thanks for your interest in crewing with Sea Shepherd!
When did you and your friend submit applications? I don’t have them yet but with the relocation things have been slowed down a bit. What’s your friend’s name?
Well, you already did the first step in becoming a crew member. Now I need to get the apps and see if and when we could fit you in. Is there any particular area of the ship that you feel you could best contribute as a crew member?
Please let me know if you have any questions.
All the best,
FakeName
I just responded, so hopefully I’ll get a quick response. Hopefully my hunt for whale hunter hunters will pay off…
this is real this is fiction 