After painting and obstructing various palm
oil tankers in Dumai earlier this week, we of the Esperanza have been playing a
waiting game. There was one tanker due in which the campaigners were
particularly interested in - not only was it bound for Europe, but it was
picking up a cargo of palm oil from Sinar Mas, the largest palm oil company in Indonesia. As
soon as it arrived, a climber was installed on the anchor chain and then there
was some more waiting. A lot more waiting.
I'm on the Rainbow Warrior just outside Kingsnorth coal plant. Security guards are trying to stop the 30 campaigners on the jetty from breaching security and walking through the power plant to the site of the proposed new Kingsnorth plant so, at the moment, they're holding the commemoration on the jetty, with security guards listening.
Each volunteer is carrying the flag of one of the 30 least polluting countries in the world; the proposed new coal plant at Kingsnorth will emit as much as these 30 countries combined. They're also reading out the evidence given by NASA director James Hansen and Inuit leader Aqqaluk Lynge at the trial of the Kingsnorth Six.
Just a quick one to let you know that we've just left Southend pier and are heading towards Chatham, to pick up the leaders of the UK's most important development, faith and environment groups - including the Women's Institute, Oxfam, Tearfund and RSPB - representing four million people.
From Chatham, we'll be sailing towards Kingsnorth, where the directors will sign a declaration saying: "Four million strong, we say no to dirty coal power stations, and yes to a clean green renewable energy future". The declaration will then be taken to Kingsnorth by one of our inflatable boats and delivered by hand to E.on staff.
Occasionally, when we pass each other in an alleyway and none of our more seasoned seafaring friends (the crew) are around, us Greenpeace UK office-dwellers lucky enough to be on the Rainbow Warrior will whisper to each other: I love this ship.
It turns out a lot of people feel the same. In London, we had passers-by shouting from the quayside to tell us so. And over the past two days, well over a thousand people have come from all over - Manchester, Devon, Wiltshire, Bristol, Jersey - to visit the ship. Toddlers and octogenarians, nuns and football fans all queued in the
rain for the chance to see the Rainbow Warrior II (or too) in the 55.2 metres of riveted steel flesh. A huge thank you to everyone who came.
Pete is a volunteer deck hand on the Rainbow Warrior.
Like a kid at Christmas, I've been struggling to get to sleep with all the excitement, but now I'm getting used to the ship's routine (even though every day seems to be different what with all the activities going on).
It's a multinational crew with stories to tell from around the world and all are really friendly and supportive - in true Greenpeace fashion. Three had to go home a couple of days ago and I find myself hugging people I've only known for a few days.
We've made it to Kent (sailing past Kingsnorth power station an hour or so ago, complete with police escort for some reason...) and we're just about to start our climate change impacts tour with Dr Geoff Meaden.
More on that later - for now, have a look at this sequence our videographer took from the Warrior's crow's nest, as we came through Tower Bridge last night:
And don't forget, the Warrior is opening her gangplank to the public tomorrow and Sunday in Southend-on-Sea - and you're invited to come on board and meet the crew.
I'm not sure where to start. In the past 24 hours, I've watched senior advisers to the shadow cabinet take a ride in one of our inflatable boats (wearing Greenpeace-branded dry suits); mopped, swept and wiped all manner of surfaces; talked to artists, designers and film producers about our work and the coal campaign; learned how to coil rope properly; donned a survival suit during safety training (see the picture of Nick, resplendent in similar garb, above); helped to take down a giant banner; eavesdropped on energy policy discussions with advisers at the heart of Labour's government; and cleaned a lot of toilets.
I think I'd better start with the Tories, who visited the Warrior this afternoon. They were here not to have the mickey taken out of them as they got into the inflatable boat ("when we get to parliament, you three unfurl that banner and the rest of you storm past the guards" etc) but to talk about energy policy with our chief scientist, energy campaigners and policy wonks - just as Labour advisers did this morning.
