oil spill

We finally managed to upload the video of the crew that our videographer Stephen Nugent made. The internet connection via satellite is pretty terrible up here as we are right on the edge of the northern range for the satellite that normally gives us internet 24/7. I'm so glad you are now able to see it. The video itself took about four days to make, several bars of chocolate in bribes to get people talking, Stephen on camera and me on sound - fumbling around all over the ship - getting in everyone's way and struggling with the pitching and rolling at sea.

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.

Leila, Greenpeace climate campaigner, writes from the Esperanza...

Blimey, isn't everyone getting their knickers in a twist about where the great ship Esperanza is headed. After the news of The Faroe Islands calling on 'special forces', the internet is alive with speculation about where we'll end up.The Faroes' massive overreaction makes the point more clearly than Greenpeace could - our countries are addicted to oil and we all need help to get off it.

Sim from the USA, who is currently on board our ship the Esperanza, writes...

I’ve been aboard the Esperanza for several days now. Having made it through the humbling experience of being utterly incapacitated by seasickness (not a pleasant experience, lemme tell you), I've started to get my feet under me and am able to help out with the day to day workings of the ship.

Loading and stowing the gear for our expedition, helping oil the cable on one of the ship's three cranes, and getting into the rhythm of morning cleaning rotation have all given me a chance to get involved with the crew as well as our campaign team. As I've found most places, putting in your time cleaning seems central to making friends out here.

If you believed the BP-fuelled media spin, you'd think the Gulf of Mexico spill was all cleaned up.

Not so. According to a report today from scientists from the University of Georgia, up to 80 per cent of the oil which leaked from the Deepwater Horizon disaster is still out there.

While our ship the Esperanza is busy confronting the oil industry, our colleages in the US are on the Arctic Sunrise in the Gulf of Mexico, researching the effects of the Deepwater Horizon spill. Paul - a longtime Greenpeace campaigner and campaign director at TckTckTck - updates us on how it's going.

It is just after five o'clock in the morning. I've just had a slice of toast and a cup of tea. The decks are wet from a recent downpour that has cooled the air somewhat. It is quiet, the ship and crew sleep. The 4 to 8 is the best watch. You get to see the sunrise and the sunset. But just now it is the darkness just before the dawn – just the harbour lights and the occasional lightning flash in the darkness.