Muskwa’s National Save the Vaquita Day

The Muskwa Club has put up the first episode of their series of shadow puppet videos. You can watch it below. Also, their website is now www.muskwaclub.org.

Attention Muskwa Club members: the deadline for ordering a Vaquita t-shirt is Tuesday, May 7 at 11:59 pm, though I may extend the deadline slightly. Order it here: http://www.customink.com/signup/2nvhf7s2.

I have made a lot of progress on my book, including finishing all text, almost finishing all the illustrations, and I have front and back cover images (courtesy of Memuco and Tom Jefferson). I might even get NOAA or The Cousteau Society to pay for printing by sponsoring it! I hope to send it off to publishing this month.

Immense progress has been made with Muskwa’s National Save the Vaquita Day, about which they are contacting the president to make it an official day, July 6th. They have many, many aquariums participating in or considering participating in the event, with the Waikiki and Cabrillo Aquariums being confirmed for that day. Also, there is a chance I will be manning a table at the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts on June 9 for World Oceans Day, and the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland on July 6 for National Save the Vaquita Day, if they confirm their participation in the event.

The Muskwa Club has a huge range of contacts in every imaginable niche, which is helping make all of this possible. They will be selling my book on July 6 at many of their tables, (¡Viva Vaquita! will be doing the same), and the Cabrillo Aquarium has even offered to sell the book at their gift shop! The Muskwa Club has many projects that they are keeping under wraps for now, but believe me, they are awesome! Also, I am now writing a column for the Muskwa Club’s monthly newsletter.

In other news, Jonathan answered the riddle correctly! Q: What is a Vaquita’s favorite model of computer? A: Microsoft Surface.

Advertisement

Memuco is awesome

Memuco is, to put it mildly, awesome. He agreed to illustrate the cover of my book a while ago, and yesterday he sent me the finished products. He didn’t just do one, he did four. All four are the greatest Vaquita paintings I have ever seen. It was so hard to pick one for the cover, but I finally chose a beautiful painting of a mother and calf. But I will definitely use all of them for various purposes in the future. I don’t want to post them yet due to copyright reasons, but take my word for it that they are unbelievable. The book should be published by the end of the summer.

Marine Mammals of the World: A Comprehensive Guide to Their Indentification

A while ago I purchased Marine Mammals of the World: A Comprehensive Guide to Their Identification by Thomas A. Jefferson, Marc A. Webber, and Robert Pitman. It is an outstanding book, probably the best on Earth for Marine Mammals. It even has manatees and Polar Bears! Really the only reason I bought it (yes, I bought it, not my parents) was because of the Vaquita entry. It has great pictures and reliable information, and the best Vaquita illustration I’ve ever seen in a book. I’m not really asking you to buy it, but if you’re into marine mammals, it’s certainly worth every penny. It would also make a great holiday gift.

Nets

Recently I have started another Vaquita book, this time a fictional adult novel. It is called Nets, and is about both a pod of Vaquita and a local fisherman. I am also still working on my informational children’s book, Vaquita. My brother and I are both painting Vaquita pictures to either sell or use for publicity. I will start to post some more artwork that my siblings or I have made in the past. I will post some progress reports in the future.