greenland

Belatedly, here's a video from the Esperanza featuring climbing superstar Sim, one of the four activists who scaled Cairn Energy's rig last week. As well as revealing Sim's personal reasons for wanting to stop the drilling, there are some spectacular shots from the action itself.

Ben writes about this morning's events from the Esperanza...

Well, that was dramatic. Yesterday afternoon, the seas started churning and our huge banner on the oil rig was twisting and flapping as a gale blew up. I spoke to the four activists under rig and they assured me they were fine. They had self-heating meals and water and were still doing interviews, telling the world about Cairn Energy’s plans to spark an Arctic oil rush.

I kept eyeing the scene through the porthole in my cabin with concern. The swell was heaving and the lips of the waves were breaking white across the stretch of sea separating the Esperanza from the rig. The weather forecast on the screen on the bridge looked ominous – lots of grim symbols over the coast west of Greenland – while a quick duck outside had my eyes watering with the cold.

From this morning's ongoing action against Cairn's reckless drilling

Just a moment ago we launched our inflatables at the crack of dawn in the misty Arctic waters of Baffin Bay and headed straight for Cairn Energy's deepwater drilling rig, the Stena Don. A group of highly experienced climbers are now scaling the rig in order to stop the drilling and defend the Arctic. I'm writing this with a deep sense of pride in my fellow activists who are out there in near freezing conditions - taking action on behalf of all of us.

They had to outrun the Danish navy and dodge special forces to get onto the rig but they've done it! And I'm writing this for you -- to make sure you are the first to know about what we're doing today and to say thanks for sticking with us since we left London three weeks ago.

This morning, before dawn, our activists evaded a massive security operation and scaled Cairn Energy's controversial rig off Greenland. We've stopped their drilling.

After dodging Danish Navy commandos in our inflatable speedboats, our activists climbed up the inside of the rig and are now hanging from tents suspended from ropes.

We'll get more news to you as soon as we have it, but for live updates go to www.gobeyondoil.org

Thanks for your support,

Lisa Vickers - on board the Esperanza

Leila, climate campaigner on the Esperanza, writes from the Arctic... 

As images and video come in to the office from the Esperanza, the one thing that has amazed everyone is the lengths to which Cairn Energy will go (indeed, must go) to prevent icebergs colliding with its drilling operations. Iceberg Alley is so named for a reason, and there's some footage here of one method for dealing with them: hosing them away.

There's also a chance to see the Stena Don rig close up as well as the Stena Forth drilling ship, and get a sense of what it's like to be out in the Arctic seas near Greenland.

Will Rose, independent photographer who regularly works with Greenpeace. He writes from the Esperanza...

We’re in and out of internet range now so I’m not sure when this will go up on the website. As if to mark the occasion thick swirls of fog have cut us off from the recent blue crisp Arctic horizon. 

The crew are subdued but in good spirits albeit a little tired after the rough Atlantic crossing, long working days and the sudden lack of awe inspiring scenery of Greenland’s coastline. Sailing in towards the mountains around Nuuk after being starved of land felt like sailing into a new world, a different planet which for those who hadn’t seen it could only silently gaze in amazement bereft of the ability to speak.

Sim, US activist, writes again from the Esperanza.

In the months following the explosion and subsequent sinking of BP’s Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig, I spent nearly three weeks in Louisiana’s Gulf coast bearing witness and assisting in documentation of the largest oil spill in US history. I stayed on Grand Isle, a vacation and fishing community that was described to me by its inhabitants as paradise. But it was far from a paradise during my stay - with clean-up crews in white protective suits working around the clock to protect their coastline from the devastating effects of the oil spill and toxic sludge visible on the beaches and marshes. I got a brief glimpse of a way of life that will be deeply changed forever in the aftermath of the oil spill.