Sometimes, the sound of dolphin cries wakes me in the night. That sound haunts me, and I have no doubt that it will remain with me until my dying day. But remaining with it is the knowledge that I diplomatically worked with, and lived amongst, local villagers in a foreign land to educate and potentially stop those dolphin cries.

I don’t remember the first time I saw the Academy Award winning documentary, The Cove, or the first time I heard of the annual dolphin slaughter that happens in that natural finger of water along the Japanese coastline. It seems to have simply always been known to me; to have always been a part of my soul.  But I never thought that I would go there; never thought I would witness the slaughter with my own eyes or hear the dolphin cries with my own ears. Yet in November 2010, I found myself standing on the rocky shore of the Cove in Taiji, Japan, gazing out over the water of that small bay, watching dolphins thrash in utter panic and then float still as their blood colored the Cove red.

My Call-to-Action came when the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society asked me to serve as their Cove Guardian Campaign Leader on the ground at the Cove in Taiji, Japan. My initial response was to turn down this offer because I was set in my life in Seattle, Washington State. I didn’t think it was a possibility for me to leave my full-time photography career, my husband, our animals and our life in general in order to spend four months in Asia. But I longed to accept this offer, to board a plane to Japan, to stand up for my beliefs, to live my passion for active marine conservation. It broke my heart to turn my back on my dream when it was finally being presented to me.

Life continued on as usual and each time I punched the time clock like a drone, the light in my soul was extinguished a bit more. It finally took some words of wisdom from a friend and co-worker to make me fully comprehend what I had just turned down. It’s not often, it’s extremely rare actually, that we get the chance to become what we have always dreamed of becoming. This was my chance. I accepted Sea Shepherd’s offer and found myself jobless, husbandless and on a plane destined for a country I had never thought twice about until that very moment. I was going to live in Japan for four months. I was going to work at the infamous Cove where I would actively participate in marine conservation. I had been chasing this dream since I was a tiny child and announced to my second grade teacher that I was going to save every dolphin and whale in the ocean, and here I was flying toward that dream. I suppose I should have been terrified, and while I was nervous and apprehensive, never once was I scared because I knew that this was what I was born for. I had no doubt then, and no doubt now, that I made the right decision when I left my ‘American Dream’ behind and ran, with my flags unfurled, toward my destiny.

Arriving in Japan was surreal and being at the Cove was something that words can never define. For the first time in my life, I was surrounded by like-minded individuals who completely understood, admired and respected my decision to radically change my life in order to come watch dolphins die. But it was so much more than that; each and every one of us was standing, conscious and present, bearing witness to the tragedy that takes place in that beautiful corner of the earth, so that we could serve as the voice of the voiceless; a conduit so the world could hear the dolphin’s cry.  We were the only hope those sentient beings had for raising awareness towards the heartbreaking slaughter. Every September through March, volunteers flock to the Cove in the hopes of spreading the word and making a difference.

Since my departure from Japan in early 2011, I’ve joined Ric O’Barry and his organization, Save Japan Dolphins, and have founded my own group, Blue Ocean Foundation. Both of these groups put heavy stock into the education aspect of conservation and take a diplomatic approach to their presence at the Cove. Working with the local people, including the men who hunt the dolphins, is a major focus of time spent in Japan. In addition, speaking to schools in the Seattle area and hosting education-awareness events has become a way for me to spread the word during my time at home.

The Cove forever changed me. I sacrificed a great deal in order to pursue my passions, but I gained so much more and never once have I regretted the choice I made to stand on that beach. The slaughter is harrowing, haunting, disturbing, disgraceful and horribly, horribly tragic, but I, and the vast majority of people who have stood vigil at the Cove as well, feel that it would be even more tragic for those dolphins to die alone, with no one to remember them and no one to spread the word about their deaths.

Life is too precious to live the way someone else says you should. Never, ever be afraid to follow your dreams, to stand up for what you believe in and to be your true self.

Spread the word. Raise awareness. Speak out.

For more information about the Cove, watch the Academy Award winning documentary of the same title. You can also visit the websites for Save Japan Dolphins and Blue Ocean Foundation.

Blue Ocean Foundation: http://blueoceanfoundation.blogspot.com/

Save Japan Dolphins: http://www.savejapandolphins.org/