For me the personal experience of being with whales and dolphins was by far the most powerful gift I received.

G’day from Australia and welcome to another episode of Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants where we once again visit the nation’s East Coast and talk with some of the benevolent members of the TransparentSea project.

The project involved a 700 kilometer sea voyage by sailing kayak from Byron Bay to Bondi Beach to draw public attention to a number of issues related to our oceans, including whaling. This specific stretch of coastline was chosen as it is the same route the endangered humpback whales take when they make their annual migration between Australia’s northern coastal waters and the Antarctic Ocean.

TransparentSea was a concept between our group of friends, where we wanted to do everything that we enjoy all in one. And so that’s be out in the ocean, be focusing on the issues that are critical at this point of time, pollutants in the ocean, whales in jeopardy from whaling fleets, and pollution and sonar testing, you name it.

The journey began on October 1, 2009 and lasted 36 days and a 44- minute film entitled “TransparentSea” has documented the historic event. With a kind spirit surrounding them, the TransparentSea crew was accompanied by marine animals during their seafaring expedition.

Every day dolphins, would come, a pack of 20, then they’d get their friends like 40, 60, that would be a 100 dolphins under your boat cruising. Like it was unbelievable. Because we were travelling with the migration down the coast, we’d link up with different pods of whales. They are really quite intelligent and they knew we’re actually on their side, they could feel the energy.

The best thing we can say is “LOVE,” they’re the most loving creatures. You see that every time you see someone come into contact with a dolphin or a whale, there’s some kind of uplifting experience for people.

There was one moment especially when we’re in, near, past Newcastle (Australia), all the boats were far out, probably seven-odd kilometers out to sea, where the big, big tankers, we were pretty much in line with them, going beyond them, and we went past them. Just as we’re going through a bit of open ocean again heading south, we just heard these whales coming. Like you hear their tails slapping on the water and cruising behind, and then we all just went and put our heads underwater and they just started singing, just so loud and so amazing. It was (Amazing) actually like, “Okay, we’ve seen a lot of them but let’s just hear them.”

So we all stuck our heads underwater, just hanging off the side of the boat, but you didn’t want to come up for a breath. And you’d see your mate, “Ay ya, ay ya, oh, my goodness,” you’d go under again. It was just so loud and so clear and the most beautiful song you’ve ever heard, and was just continuing. It would vibrate into your whole body, like healing. It was just unbelievable. That was one of my highlights for sure, just the sound alone, incredible!

In the same month as the voyage, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a non-profit environmental group founded in 1977 by vegan Captain Paul Watson of Canada, was conducting a campaign in Australia’s major cities to save whales from whaling fleets in the Antarctic Ocean. The TransparentSea crew was excited at the prospect of crossing paths with the Society’s flagship vessel, the Steve Irwin, on one leg of their journey.

We’re just getting ready to go out and meet up with the Sea Shepherd ship, Steve Irwin, which is about to pull up outside this river mouth in a little while.

My whole journey with conservation stuff and specifically ocean conservation started with Sea Shepherd.

Our only hope in the frontline of this issue to protect these whales which have just made a recovery from the horrendous, slaughter of their populations back in the 1960s, 1970s where it ended. We’ve just got the Sea Shepherds to, put all our trust and our hope in, that they will be effective in defending the whales.

David Rastovich, founder of the TransparentSea project, became a vegan as a result of working with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

A couple of years ago I did a campaign with Sea Shepherd targeting shark finners in the Galapagos Islands. And when we were pulling in the long lines, miles of long lines, and pulling up tuna and different fish, it just hit me. There is no difference between any of these animals and the only animal I was eating was seafood. And I just thought, “There’s no way I can continue doing this.”

And then I looked into the nature of the meat itself, and the toxins within all seafood now, and realized that for me it just wasn’t appropriate to eat it anymore. So it’s been a year or two since I’ve been doing the vegan thing, and it’s working for me and I’ve got more energy than I’ve ever had before, and it’s all good for me. So that’s the stage that I’m in at this point.

When we return, we’ll hear more from TransparentSea’s crew members about their exciting voyage. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants here on Supreme Master Television, as we learn more about the amazing journey of the members of the TransparentSea project, who followed the annual southern migration of humpback whales along the East Coast of Australia. Besides promoting whale protection, the project sought to encourage the safeguarding of other marine life and keeping beaches clean. It may have been first and foremost a serious mission, but there was also fun along the way.

There’s surfing, it is a surf trip too, but it’s just that if we do surf it’s icing on the cake, because the rest of the journey is just so rich. It’s got so much going on, and once you get some surf, you just go, “Oh, yes, that was just the cherry on top.”

But it’s not just humans who enjoy surfing the waves.

You’re riding a wave, you’re just loving the feeling of the wind going through your hair, surfing down this wave, feeling the water and the wind on your skin, and you look in the wall of the wave and there’s a dolphin doing the exact same thing. So you look at that connection and that’s something that I don’t think you can find anywhere in the world with humans and animals, where there’s some kind of action that you’re both doing that is purely for joy.

Where there aren’t any waves to ride, there will certainly be chances to leap out of the water!

The one thing when I’m out there and I see them, you realize it’s their playground. It’s such a large canvas and then all of a sudden these most amazing creatures are kicking their tails and playing. And they’re just so playful around here.

I had this thought of like, “Wow, I wonder why they (whales) breach?” Because no one really knows why they breach like that. And I thought about it, it’s just the same as humans. We like going underwater and feeling weightless for a while, because our whole life we’re feeling the effect of gravity. So we love to slip into the ocean and just melt.

Whales, are stuck in a weightless realm, and all of a sudden when they break the surface they feel their immensity. And man, if I was that size I would love to feel that, anyone would love to feel that you’re just this incredible creature. They love jumping in the wind, just like us humans love riding a bike and feeling the wind through your hair, or riding a wave and feel the speed of wind rushing past.

Maybe they just do everything to feel the joy of lift and launching. Really, they are such sensitive creatures that us on tiny crafts, they perceive us coming from a long way away.

And we got closer and closer, and we kind of came in fully respectful and just check our distance about 200 meters, 300 meters away, and then they came to us, it was just epic.

Oh, they’re coming under the boat. oh, my! Oh, wow!

It made me really appreciate being on a tiny, little trimaran boat that’s noiseless and has no smell and we’re really immersed in the whole scenario.

The feeling, we were just like, this is so good, like just being that close to them.

To want to share that in not a forceful way but to want to share that with other humans and say, “Look how this is incredible. They’re not doing anything to us, let’s not do anything to them, let’s just leave them alone and just simply return the favor.”

Hilton Dawe and David Rastovich now share their final thoughts on the ocean and its precious inhabitants.

Basically, the dolphins and whales, they’re just like extended family. They’re not separate from us, they are a part of who we are, so we just proved that. We just cruised with them, and they were happy. They’re massive animals. They would hang under our boats, hang out with us, and play with us. We were just going, “This is incredible!” It shows that connection, there’s no separation here. So for us, we’re just experiencing it and now we want to share that with other people.

Thank you so much. We are so grateful for the support, and we are a voice for the surfing community all over the world that feels the same way. We all feel that the dolphin and the whale are our representatives, our ultimate surfing inspiration. And we want to be a custodian for our land, our coastline, and we also want to be caretakers for those whales and dolphins.

And our voice is one voice that is the same all over the world. So, we want to say on behalf of the surfing community that we are there to be the caretakers of our coastlines and the defenders of dolphins and whales. So thank you all very, very much for coming.

Be Veg, Go Green 2 Save the Planet!

We thank David Rastovich, Hilton Dawe, and the other crew members and everyone else involved in the TransparentSea project for their love and enthusiasm in bringing awareness to the current situation of our oceans, coastlines and friendly marine co-inhabitants. May their work continue to enlighten more people about the need to preserve and protect our beloved seas and the life they contain.

For more details on the TransparentSea project, please visit

Intelligent viewers, thank you for joining us today on Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. Up next is Enlightening Entertainment, after Noteworthy News. May Divine love always embrace our planet.