Hester on board the Rainbow Warrior (file photo).
Hester says: "OK, I will write something. But don't expect too
much of a novel. After long and hard negotiations with Captain
Derek, I have decided to follow in Lucy's footsteps and send some
updates from life on board the Rainbow Warrior. I have not read
Lucy's Diaries since it would spoil all my surprises. I have now
been on for 6 days (it is Saturday) so it will be the most striking
memories from a small week at sea."
[Hester, a native Netherlander, usually works in the Greenpeace
video library in Amsterdam, where she spends her days cataloguing,
filing, sorting, copying and shipping Greenpeace videos. This is
her first time as a crewmember.]
Sunday the 27th was supposed to be the day I joined the Rainbow
Warrior but it turned out getting to Cardiff was a adventure in
itself: it was the Day of "The Storm" (one of the worst this part
of the world had seen in a while), so my flight was cancelled which
I found out after spending only 2 hrs in line at Amsterdam's
airport!
Phoned the captain to find out if the ship was going anywhere
else but he told me the weather was too bad anyway so they would
wait for me. I felt very privileged. So I went back home and did it
all again the next morning. The plane did fly this time but not
with our luggage!
Had to wait for the next plane to see if my rucksack would be on
and luckily John ("the man with the plan" and the car) and I were
offered a cup of tea and a chat at the Rescue Boat Centre. Real
nice guys with great stories.
The Warrior had to leave the harbour because of the tides and
the rib (Rigid Inflatable Boat) came and picked me (and a crate of
lettuce and fresh bread) up. On the boat I met the first of the
crew, Dimitri and Jens, and soon we were racing to the Warrior! I
made it! Yippee! Watch out you dirty decks; I am coming over for
some good cleaning!
The sea was not too bad and we sailed off (I think in a Southern
direction) on our way to spot the dolphins. Not for me though: I
had to go below deck to the hold, and got my first mission from
the, by now, world famous Simon the Bosun - make bike locks and
chains. Great: the real stuff; make something out of nothing. True
recycling. So Louise (UK Video person, now deckhand/volunteer)and
me started, wondering how seasick we would be.
It took Louise 1.5 hrs; then she looked like she had seen and
spoken to a ghost. So I stayed below working away on my locks and
thinking about seasickness. I guess that is one of the problems
with this: you just can't think about anything else. I must say I
was not feeling too bad so I decided not to get sick. I couldn't
eat and I wasn't in a beer-drinking-and-joke-telling-mood but I
stayed pretty OK. (Must have inherited my dad's sea legs). Went to
bed really early though - 20:30!
In the following days I finished my bike locks and learned a lot
about the typical boat terminology, which has a lot of Dutch words
as origin. In the mess room there is a paper on the wall that
describes the Dutch Code of Discipline (and since all GP ships are
Dutch registered....it applies to us too:-), " ...Any fight that
drew blood would result in the antagonist having one hand strapped
behind his back and the other nailed to the mast. There he would
remain until he tore himself loose. If the fight ended in death the
man was bound to his victim and tossed into the sea. Refusing to
obey the captain commanded the death penalty... and the most
serious offences were dealt with by Keelhauling - which involved
being hauled underneath the keel while the ship was moving. In the
majority of cases, the victims head was ripped off". I am happy
Greenpeace is a non-violent organisation!
Then after 2 days of cleaning, painting and grinding we saw the
first dolphins! They came straight for us from a distance and
hitched a ride. Common dolphins, 20 or so in a group. You can
actually hear them too! I have filmed them but missed the best shot
where one jumped out of the water! Damn. Not so easy to be a
wildlife videographer eh?!
We arrive at St. Ives. Looks like a very pretty town and it
turns out to be really picturesque. I get to be crew on the rib
when we pick up 2 local journalists who will do an item on Whale
and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) and us for the 6 o'clock
news. So we race ashore and pick them up. They want some good shots
of the RW so we race around the boat. We have to do it again, now a
bit slower because it is not that easy to film from an inflatable.
I notice that myself when I take my camera out on the return trip;
it is hard enough to stay in the boat yourself, let alone get a
steady shot of the Warrior!
When Dima (Dimitri) and I sail into the little port of St Ives,
a seal pops up right next to our inflatable. He watches us with
this irritated look on his face as if he just missed a juicy fish
because we chased it away with our boat! I also missed that shot by
the way...
We get to go ashore on Hallowe'en night (never knew that that is
the proper way of spelling it, but I see it in all the newspapers
so I will do the apostrophe too now). But getting to shore it is
harder then I thought: the tides are low and we need to wade
through the water to get to land. Apparently, that is how St. Ives
got here as well so we feel OK about it.
It turns out St Ives is a beautiful little seaside village with
lots of cute houses and shops and, of course, pubs. It is raining
so that is where we end up; in the pub. There is a raffle on and
they have some great things on auction: 6-packs of beer, t-shirts,
a diner voucher, vegetables and chocolate. But the best things are
the three novelty cakes: shaped in 'funny' forms like a bra and
men's underwear. We decide to bet on a cake in the shape of a
woman's bottom, with suspenders and all! We call it the Arse cake
and we end up buying it for 17 pounds! It could have been a lot
cheaper if Simon (different Simon this time) would not have been
bidding against his colleague Phaedre, but anyway; the money goes
to charity and the cakes come with us! Amber (WDCS) then went on a
quest ("have to have pumpkin-have to have pumpkin!' ) so when she
returned with 2 (kindly donated by the restaurant owner who
couldn't resist Amber's puppy-eyed request) we know the Hallowe'en
night is a success. At 11 o' clock Derek comes to pick us (and our
trophies) up with the rib, and the next night we all have a piece
of arse cake after dinner! Thank you St. Ives!
In St. Ives we also say goodbye to some Whale and Dolphin
Conservation Society people and trade them for fresh ones. The
girls and boys from the WDCS are on constant watch on the corners
of the deck and the bow. On watch to spot the dolphins. Not a lot
of them around though.... But Simon has seen a basking shark!
Pretty amazing; I didn't know they would be here. And the other day
Lowri saw a Sunfish right next to the boat! The things you learn on
a trip like this.
The rest of the days were quite slow on the dolphin side of
things: I didn't see anymore and the rest of the crew only saw a
couple of porpoises. We are on our way to the Isles of Scilly and
it should be better there. If we ever make it that far though; the
weather forecasts are not so good and it can be really rough on the
English Channel.
And so it is! Bloody H*** what a ride! Much better then most
cakewalks at the fair this! Our boat is rocking and rolling (yeah
baby yeah!) and the waves are 5 to 8 meters high! Dark blue with
some splashing white heads on them, rising high next to us and in
front of us and, well, basically we are surrounded by them! The
porthole doors (the ones on the inside) are closed and some
cupboards are starting to feel seasick too and spit out their
belongings so I tape them shut.
Poor Andrea, the cooks assistant; she is definitely not feeling
well in this weather. But this is exceptionally rough; the biggest
wave is around 10 meters high so we can hardly walk and a lot of
people are in bed. Even Meredith and Ellie who both have never been
sick, have had their share. (Ok: she had to clean the compost
barrel, which isn't very helpful I guess). It is exciting and I am
curious to see if it will effect me so I eat a whole bar of
chocolate after lunch and wait. But nothing happens. I don't get
sick, I just feel a bit funny. It must be the years of Rock 'n Roll
that prepared me for this!
We are now on our way back from the Scilly Islands and we are
still rolling around on the waves. I have a couple of hours off
right now because I am working at night - putting no-slip
protection on the alleyway floors while everyone else is asleep. I
like being a deckhand!
-- Hester
Read more updates on the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society
website.