Welcome to Taij

My first day in Taiji was a good day. The cove stayed blue.
But yesterday was different...

We went out early in the morning, we saw the banger-boats leave port and we moved to our lookout point, from were you have an exellent view of the ocean. There the waiting began, anxiously tracing the horizon with binoculars, to see if anyone could catch a glimp of the hunting boats and if they were in a drive-formation or not. Usually the killers hunt until 9.30 in the morning. If they didn't find anything by that time, they return to port and call it a day.

Boats in driving formation

At around 9.25 the first boat was just about to enter the harbour, maybe a hundred meters away, followed in a distance by the rest. The cove would stay blue for yet another day !! We were all excited, joking and making plans for the afternoon. We would go out for noodles !
But then, right in front of us, the first boat stopped and layed motionless in the water. We all stopped breathing. Then it slowly turned around, throttled up and speeded back to the ocean when at the same time, all the other boats changed course and headed in the same direction. They were tipped off by a small fishingboat that was laying right in front of us, not more then maybe a mile off shore. The had spotted dolphins.

The bangerboats hurried to get into a driving formation behind the pod. This time it was tóó easy for the killers, this close to the cove...

We all went to another position, high above the cove, from where you have a clear view of the drama that's unfolding in front of you. In my life i have seen dolphins twice. The first time was at a dolphin show in Harderwijk (Netherlands). I was maybe 8 or 9 years old and i really thought the dolphins were happy because they were "smiling". How little did i know....

22 Risso dolphins

The second time i saw them, so many years later, they were surrounded by 12 banger boats, with men who were banging on steal poles in the water, creating a wall of sound making the dolphins franticly flea in the other direction. Everytime a dolphin tried to escape, one of the fast killerboats throttled up, blowing a black puff of smoke from it's diesel engine, driving it back to the pod. Dispite the tragedy, the thing that struck me seeing them in real live again, was the power and grace in which they glided trough the water. What a beautiful creatures !

Once in the cove, it was quickly netted off by men in skiffs. No escape anymore. Right after that, the murderers started to cover the killing zone with tarps. They don't want the world to see their dirty little secret. Covering the cove, only means one thing...The sound of the steal rings scraping over the metal cabels, meter by meter, still haunts me.

2 Taken captive

First 2 Risso's were taken captive by dolphin trainers, to spent the rest of their lives in a concrete tank, doing silly tricks for a human audience. All the other family members had to die.

Yes we see what you do !

So soon, the killing began by ramming a steel rod into the spinal cord, paralizing the animal, but not killing it. Then a wooden plug is jammed into the wound to stop the bleeding. No blood in the water for the world to see ! But they don't always succeed and also this time, slowly the cove turned red... When the animal is tied with it's tail to a skiff for transportation to the butcherhouse, it usually drowns. Usually...

Killed dolphin

Transfering to the butcher

During one of the transports, a killer desperately trying to hide his dirty bloody business, looked up at me, straight in the eyes. Caught like a thief in the night.

It was all over so quickly. Only a few hours ago this dolphin family was happy and free. Now, 18 of them were killed and 2 were kidnapped, never to see their family and the ocean again. All because they made one mistake: They came to close to Japanese shores.

Words can hardly discribe what i felt yesterday and it still is so surreal.
But it made me even more determined to do whatever i can to stop this cruelty. And even if you can not come to Taiji, you can share the news. Let the world know what is going on. Together we are strong !!

But the day wasn't over yet. Shortly after the killing and butchering, a crane was positioned to lift 2 bottlenose dolphins, who had spent weeks in the harbour pens, from their small prisons into a waiting truck to be transported to a dolphinarium somewhere in the world.

Lifted into a waiting truck

We jumped into the car and followed the truck for several hours, only to loose it at some point unfortunately. That's why i didn't had the energy to wright my blog yesterday, we were só tired.

Sunrise at the cove

But today there is no hunting !! All the boats stayed in. So all the time in the world to make up and write a decent update from my blog, as i  promissed.
Coming back from the harbour, we stopped at the cove to wittness an incredible sunrise. Strange that such a horrific place can be so beautiful as well.
So today is my day off. All the others are out for lunch and i think i'm gonna bring some order in the      mess i made of my hotelroom ;)

Thanks for all your support and thanks for reading my blog.

Until soon.
xxx

Willem

Monitors

Today was my real first day as a cove guardian. And that means getting up at 5, making coffee in my room and bring my butt outside in freezing temeratures. But no one is complaining, because we had to make it in time for a rendez vous with some "fisherman".

Dawn in Taiji harbour

So we stood there when the men came out, climbed in their banger-boats, started the engines and took off at daybreak to go hunting for dolphins. Again, it all was surreal for me, having seen this many times on the internet, but now standing a few feet away from them, looking them straight in the eyes. That is, if they looked at me at at all ! Because most of them had their faces covered and everytime i pointed my camera at them, they hurried to turn their head away. Why ? If you have nothing to hide, if what you do is just to make an honest buck, why would you cover your face ? I think you know why...

My fellow "covey's" told me the killers would find it quitte annoying when their picture was taken. So in that 3 minutes, i took about 80 photo's of them. Wíth flash of course ! ;)

What have you got to hide ?

Killers to "work"

Boats leaving port

When the boats left, went together with a few guardians to a high look-out point overseeing the ocean, where we, after a few hours, were so happy to see that they all came back, empty handed, one by one and not all together in a driving formation ! My first day at the Cove was a blue one !!!

Empty handed !

Taiji is a strange little town. Everybody monitors everybody. First, the hunters monitor the dolphins, we are monitoring the killers and the police is monitoring us. They follow us everywhere and watch every move we make. Most of them are very friendly and i really think they are in a difficult situation too. They get the order, they have to do their work, but that doesn't necessarily mean they agree in what is happening in Taiji.

Harpoon boats

It is a crazy town too. The people in Taiji pretend to be whale lovers. Everywhere you can see statues of whales and happy smiling dolphins, but only yards away is the dolphin butcher house. And boats that look like big happy, floating whales to take tourists for a cruise, are passing the harpoonvessels that lay in the harbour, ready to hunt for small cetaceans.

But today was a good day. Because the cove stayed blue, we even had time for a group photo. Which i will put on my blog too. Of course. :) Speaking of being proud....!!!

Proud to be a cove guardian !

Time for bed now. Tomorrow is another (early) day. See you all soon. And thanks for reading my blog.

Love, Willem xx

contradictions

This morning i woke up very early in my Osaka hotelroom. Probably from an unadjusted bio-clock, but i think also because my toes were freezing off. The night before, i couldn't find the heaterswitch and i was to tired to go and ask at the desk. So i slept with a sweater and trainings suit ! 
But i made up with an excellent Japanese breakfast. With lots of coffee. Of course !! :)


Before i went to the train station, i quickly slipped into the Seven Eleven behind my hotel. I needed raisers badly because i forgot mine back home. Of course.... :) But how do you (I !!!) find what you need in a supermarket the size of a football-field were everything is written in Japanese and no one speaks just a little bit of English ? Yeah i know, hands and feet, but believe me, it's hard at times, especially when you have a train to catch. But i must say that the Japanese people are very polite and helpful, everywhere you go, even on the streets.



I took a train to Wakayama station, where i had to switch trains to get on the Shingu line. While i was waiting, i saw a European woman asking directions from a station employee on the platform. Don't ask me why, but my feeling told me she was going to do the same thing as i. So i walked straight up to her, asked her if she waited for the same train. Yes. Are you travelling to Taiji ? Yes. From there we didn't need any more clues. We were both cove guardians !!! Her name is Sarah (i asked her permission) Needles to say we had a lot to chat on the way to Taiji ! :)

Sarah

From the station we were picked up by another cove guardian, who brought us to the hotel. There i met all the other guardians. That too was a real pleasure !! So much to talk about. After we settled in the hotelroom, Melissa and Scott took us for our first visit to Taiji and the Cove. Words can hardly discribe the feelings i had (and still have) seeing all the places i knew for so long from photo's and video's, but now in real live.

Speaking of contradictions. Taiji is a place of unbelievable beauty, but with a black shadow hanging over it.

Taiji harbour

I placed a photo of Taiji harbour. One that most of you probably have seen a thousand times, but i do it anyway, because this time it is trough my own eyes.
The joy of seeing my fellow cove guardians and the shock i felt when we got into Taiji, the contrast could not be any greater.


I'm going to sleep now, it is late and the alarm goes at 5. Then into the cold to Taiji. Tomorrow more pictures. I hope only of the beautiful surroundings.