Natalie Fox of Chicks With Sticks is a true inspiration. As well as being an incredlbly stylish longboarder, patient & enlightening surf teacher, mellow spirit, aspiring yoga teacher, but also epic to party with, she's fast becoming a fearless eco warrior. Her latest incredible adventure being to the Faroe Islands with Sea Shepherd and Surfers for Cetaceans (co-founder Howie Cook is pictured above) to prevent any more pilot whales being killed in the North Denmark island's barbaric annual coming of age ceremoney - The Grind.
A melancholic and worrying voyage, read her full account and words after the jump - prepare to be completely inspired by her actions, but also to shed a tear at humanity's selfish stupidity...
I joined the Sea Shepherd campaign in the Shetlands, with Howie Cooke of non profit org. Surfers 4 Cetaceans. A lone surfer representing Chicks with Sticks; together we are a mismatched duo standing up for Surfers 4 Cetaceans everywhere.
I received the invitation in my electronic mailbox:
"Was I up for a secret mission to save cetaceans in the North Sea?"
"Hell yeah!" Was my response. A month later I was travelling to the most Northern islands of Scotland to meet up with the Golfo Azzurro who had already had a week sailing around the Faroes on her way from Holland.
The Faroes are a group of remote islands in the North Sea, owned by Denmark; a self governing nation who have a sadistic secret pastime. Each year they kill hundreds of beautiful pilot whales in a twisted, testosterone fuelled "rite of passage". The kills are called "Grinds", and are spontaneous massacres of whales who come into shallower waters to give birth to their calves.
Once a pod of whales are spotted out to sea, they are herded by fishing boats and unnerving sound devices into fjords so they are beached on the beaches of the fishing villages. Traditionally the men prove their masculinity by using hooks through the blowholes of the defenceless whales and cutting off their heads. The corpses are then collected and discarded back into the ocean.
We have found dead bodies, bones and whale graveyards; but there has been no sighting of any live pilots whales. There are meant to be approximately 800,000 pilot whales in these waters. We are worried they have killed them all. Although without whales, no Grind can take place, so for that at least we are thankful. We patrol the inlets and pray that if whales are seen we can get there first, herding them back out to sea and making sure we intervene before it's too late.
We have been all over the Faroese news; every fishing port we pull into posts our coordinates on a website, and car headlights and twitching curtains keep track of our every move. We have been boarded by police, searched by customs and followed by the navy... we are definitely not welcome here!
I'm not sure I like this place, the landscape is dramatic, beautiful waterfalls cascade into the sea from volcanic, jade cliffs; caverns, and caves protrude in and out of jagged rock faces. It is majestic, yet cold, hard, prehistoric; a forgotten land devoid of soul.
I'm pretty sure I will arrive on shore unrecognisable. I'm eating the best vegan food, thanks to Laura the amazing cook and with no action and no whales, eating is the most popular past time aboard.
There a dozens of beautiful seabirds following our journey in the hope of some fish being up for grabs. But the absence of sea mammals is chilling, for centuries these islands and their inhabitants have raped the ocean of abundant life, whilst claiming their practices are sustainable. Are we too late to save the pilot whale?
For more on Chicks With Sticks and Nat's inspiring adventures go to: chickswithsticksuk.blogspot.com
All images: Simon Ager
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