via TakePart

Hayden Panettiere’s aquatic adventures did not end with her stunt in Japan two years ago, featured in the new eco-doc “The Cove.” In fact, we think that was just the beginning of Hayden’s new passion for the ocean. She proved us right this summer! Earlier this month she took a trip to the Bahamas with The Whaleman Foundation to swim with the beautiful creatures she works tirelessly to protect.

She was in the Bahamas filming a documentary (or PSA) for the foundation and spent the weekend free-diving with dolphins. We are extremely jealous--how amazing does that look?! Hayden told David Letterman that she went down as low as 40 feet but confessed she could only stay for 40 seconds. She also recently wrote an article for takepart.com encouraging people to get involved in her cause.

This animal rights chick has been working on the “Save the Whales Again!” campaign with other “Heroes” cast mates and her petition has already gotten 162,000 signatures. They aim to get to 1 million in the next year so go help Hayden help the sea critters—sign the petition and check out “The Cove.”