The Greenpeace ship MY Arctic Sunrise is in Edinburgh, and she’s thrown open her doors to the public for the day. It’s a drizzly grey day but hundreds of people have donned their waterproofs and come down to Leith docks to have a look around the ship and have a cuppa with the crew.
I'd definitely recommend looking around a Greenpeace ship if you ever get the chance – I haven't been on many ships but there really does seem to be a special atmosphere about this one. But then the Arctic Sunrise has a pretty special history - from its beginnings as a commercial seal hunting vessel, it's gone on to better things, including taking action to stop US Star Wars missile tests, protesting against clear cutting in the Amazon and documenting climate change in the polar regions.
I only arrived on the ship last night and it’s going to be my home for the next five weeks (I'm the onboard web editor) so I’m off to join one of the tours now. At the moment, I don’t know my mess from my poop deck, and I still haven't worked out whether the crew were joking when they told me that wearing a potato around my neck would stop seasickness...
Anyway, if you read this in time and if you’re in Edinburgh, come along – just turn up at Leith docks’ customer service point before 3.30pm and a Greenpeace volunteer will show you to the ship.
Oh, and watch this space - the Arctic Sunrise is about to embark on a new tour - five weeks around the UK, campaigning against the replacement of the UK’s nuclear weapons programme, Trident. I'll be posting regular updates from the ship as the tour gets underway...
