ships

Deforestation continues in Indonesia, as this image taken on 16 October of an area cleared for an Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) plantation shows (c) Sutton-Hibbert/Greenpeace

Being a part of a Greenpeace ship tour is never boring. Generally, you expect the unexpected, and then you're surprised. But even by ship tour standards, the Rainbow Warrior's recent 'tour' of Indonesia was an interesting one.

It started with high hopes that our peaceful campaigning ship would be able to support the Indonesian president's stated aims of ending deforestation in Indonesia. It ended with the Rainbow Warrior being denied vital supplies and being ordered - and escorted - out of Indonesian waters and well into international waters by two navy vessels, in breach of international maritime law.

I've been at sea for five weeks now and can't wait to set foot on terra firma again and do all the things I've been missing. When I am on land I dream of being at sea and now I'm at sea - I can't stop thinking about getting back on land even though the Go Beyond Oil expedition has been really exciting so far.

We have officially arrived in the Arctic! After coming into Nuuk, Greenland, on Friday to pick up Arne, our ice pilot - we headed north and crossed the Arctic circle yesterday afternoon. I was incredibly excited about crossing the line as I have never done it before. Waldemar, our captain also hasn't been here. We stood together on the bridge yesterday and watched the GPS move slowly up from 66 degrees north. At the moment we crossed the line he jumped into the air and said "oh wow! Lisa! did you feel it?". Of course there's no geographical line in the ocean - no immediate change in the surroundings when you cross over. And just like a birthday when you suddenly get a year older - you don't feel any different but it's a special occasion and cause for celebration.

Victor, one of our activists on board the Esperanza, writes his second update... 

Friends, we’ve now been at sea for a week. The waves have come and gone. Sometimes big, sometimes small. Right now it’s calm. But just a couple of days ago it was worse. Curfew during the night, and recommendations to stay away from deck even during daytime. The waves burst over the bow and sprayed the windows as high up as the bridge. When laying in my bunk I got that feeling of weightlessness as the ship moved down the ridge of the waves, only to weigh double as much as normal as we came up again. Hallelujah. Better than Disneyland.

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.