Greetings all! Below is a letter from Blue Project & Sea Shepherd supporter, Deborah Bassett. She is currently abroad the Steve Irwin en route to Europe… Enjoy!

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note to let you all know that we have made it safely through the Gulf of Aden that separates the Somali and Yemen coastline yesterday afternoon after a tense encounter with a handful of suspicious vessels: http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-110503-1.html The entire crew of the Steve Irwin led by Captain Locky maintained cool, calm and collected and we were able to successfully outrun the small craft without incident.

Upon entering the most treacherous stretch of pirate territory in the world just 2 days prior, we were greeted by a U.S. military Black Hawk helicopter who came in for an up close and personal peek (aka surveillance) after the U.S military had mistaken the Steve Irvin for a bona-fide war ship. Quite a compliment and perhaps largely due in part to our fierce, yet sassy, new camo paint job. (photos attached

Of course, even more exciting for a group of ocean-loving conservationists was the grand welcome by a pod of hundreds of dolphins as though the joyful messengers of the sea had come to let us know that Mother Nature was keeping close tabs on us as well. It was a comforting symbol as we make our way to the Mediterranean in order to defend the last wild Buefin tuna who currently teeter on the brink of extinction largely due to corporate greed and government incompetence.

It’s somewhat hard to believe that almost a month has gone by at sea–I’ve learned a lot and met some of the loveliest, hardest working and dedicated Sea Shepherd crew members here.    Although challenging at times and whilst I remain a bit more princess than pirate, this monumental voyage has nevertheless been a truly rewarding learning experience for which I am very grateful. Hats off to The Man himself, Captain Paul Watson, for it has been his steadfast vision and dedication that has kept this mission going strong since 1977 (coincidentally the year of my birth- and as such has preserved the lives of countless marine life. At the end of the day, it is this shared respect and reverence for nature that unites all of here now regardless of our nationalities or backgrounds.

I am looking forward to arriving in Europe soon and will write a more thorough recap and post some pics shortly.

Ps- here’s a recent pic of “Quartermaster Bassett” on the bridge of the Steve Irwin. I am finally used to the 3:30 am daily wake up! Our first mate from Bombay is named Sid, short for Siddhartha, which is quite befitting as anyone who has dealt with the Debster at that hour knows it takes nothing short of a living Buddha to do so!  (Luckily we are fully supplied with plenty of java on board-

Lots of Love,

Deb xoxo