The Isafjördur adventure

Posted by at 7:56 PM, June 22, 2004

Opened my eyes this morning with anticipation - arrival at the town of Isafjördur, a whaling port in northwest Iceland. I was anxious to get out on deck to watch our approach, but first I had to complete my chores: clean up the mess hall and then scrub the showers and toilets. When that was done, I went out on the boat deck to take it all in.

During the ship's approach, everyone on the crew was busy performing their duties and at the same time seeing the sights: the town, the fishing boats, the airstrip, the flat-topped hills. There was even a one-man action at the bow of the Esperanza - Harald Tryggvasson was zipping around in an inflatable boat, welcoming Greenpeace to Isafjördur. Harald disagrees with Greenpeace about whaling, but he later came aboard to have a tour and to talk to us about different issues.

This is a fairly small town, hundreds of people I think. And there were quite a few people at the pier to greet us- some from Iceland and some from Greenpeace, many with cameras. In fact, tonight at the pub we saw ourselves on the news!

The ship was immediately boarded by, who? Customs agents? Harbor patrol? Police? Anyway, they went up to the bridge and kept eye on things as we pulled in. A bunch of new (new to me) Greenpeace people also came on board to join us for the rest of the journey. Campaigners, photographer, videographer and web editor. It felt like a blast of energy swept through the place as old friends greeted each other and new faces appeared around every corner.

Plus, I got my luggage! By the looks of all the stickers and tags, it seems like my bag spent some quality time in France and then toured Denmark a bit before joining me in Iceland. Even though things were a bit hectic around the ship, I spent a few minutes unpacking my bag, getting reacquainted with my belongings. I did this in a new cabin because I have been moved. Now I'm living with Helena, which I love. In the soap dish are toy dinosaurs; on the window sill are flower pots and seashells. I just noticed that this cabin, one floor lower and across from the galley, is MUCH LOUDER. Good thing I've got ear plugs.

For several hours today we held open boat. This is where the public is invited aboard and we show them around. This was pretty cool because if you had told me last year that I would be leading tours of the Esperanza, I would have liked the idea, but I would have checked your temperature. The tours were pretty fun. I talked to a group of teenage boys whose summer job is radio and street performance, and we also had a class of five-year olds who sang for us "You Are My Sunshine" in Icelandic. I hope that this good interaction between Icelandic people and Greenpeace improves relations between the two groups and improves the chances for an end to whaling.

After a long shift of tours, I finally sat down at a computer to organize my downloaded photos and get started on my log entry. Then another tour. Then work on my log entry again. Then dinner. Then back to my log entry again. I finally finished at 7:15, just in time to miss the download. Great, now I'm writing in my log about writing in my log.

By this time everyone had gone into town to watch the soccer games on television at the pizzeria. Irene and I headed in that direction and we soon found the place. I had a glass of wine while watching the match with Mike F. and Gianluca then wandered back toward the ship. I ran into Marta who was going into town to use the public phone.

OF COURSE, THE PHONE! So I immediately changed direction and walked into town once again. We found the telephone inside the market, and I anxiously dialed my husband's work number. Our conversation was great! It was brief, and I don't even remember anything in particular that we said, but I know that I loved every second of it. I'm sure I was smiling ear to ear the whole time. For me, the very first speck of homesickness of the trip.

My back is killing me. Sleep.

-Marnee