Hope for Nature

On our last day in the field, we had one of those amazing moments in nature. Just after we left the harbor for our final day of mapping, Shawn and I were talking and she happened to see something large rise out of the water behind me, just a few hundred meters from the boat. We both turned to look as we saw something disappear below the surface, then rose again a few seconds later. It was a humpback whale, gracefully rolling in the waters, raising its enormous pectoral fin out of the surface, as if it was waving at us. After a few blow spouts, it made one more magical appearance, then left us in awe as it retreated in a deep dive.

In the work that we do, we see a lot of challenges to achieving our mission of restoring and protecting biodiversity on Earth. We see first hand the damaging effects that poverty, corruption, greed, competing interests, and changing climates are having on ecosystems. We are constantly reevaluating our actions, seeking strategic partnerships to counteract and minimize these damaging threats to ecosystems. It feels like a race against time and it’s sometimes hard to have hope that our mission will ever succeed. Every once in awhile you have those reassuring moments, when you see the majesties of nature and your hope is rekindled. It makes you think that despite all the challenges, nature is truly resilient and if you give it a chance, it will come back.

We couldn't have completed the data mission without the cooperation and support of the skilled staff from St Kitts and Nevis Coast Guard.

 A fisher's boat moored just off the coast with St Thomas Lowland Church in the distance, the first Anglican Church in the Caribbean, consecrated in 1643.

Surveying the waters on the southern end of Nevis.

Sunset over Caribbean waters.

Ship track and total video sample points collected on both islands in ten days.