Docked in Dublin
Posted by Dave at 08:40 AM, November 05, 2004
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| (C) Greenpeace |
The Esperanza had barely docked in Dublin before the first visitors started arriving - new crew members, local Greenpeace activists, and friends. I had the pleasure of welcoming my parents on board - they'd travelled a couple of hours just to see both the Esperanza and their wayward son. Their first words were 'The ship is huge!'. This was recurring theme for most of the visitors, who expected the Esperanza to be a wee little thing.
My father was in his element - he loves ships, and everything to do with them. Kev, 3rd engineer, gave him a tour of the engine rooms, while my mum just raised her eyes to heaven.
By the time I saw them off, the first Open Boat visitors were arriving -various crew members were welcoming them on board, and treating them to the Trawling the Deep video in the heli-hanger, before taking them on a tour of the ship. Dima took over running of the video, while Francois, Natasha, Yabel, Maaike and Madeleine got going with the tours. For my part, I had forewarned a lot of people about our visit - and they all seemed to show up at once, or right after one other, so that I ended up doing six hours of tours. Not that I'm complaining - though it was weird to have my family life, my Dublin social life, and my work life all collide on one day, on a ship, on the River Liffey.
The 'Oh my god this ship is enormous' theme carried on through the day -though at least one little girl expressed her distaste at the tiny wheel used for steering the Esperanza. After weeks on the high seas, it's a fantastic chance to meet people interested in what we do, and for them to encounter the Greenpeace activists who crew the ships.
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| (C) Greenpeace |
At 6pm, after the last visitor had wandered off down the gangway, the lounge was full of flaked out folk. My voice was going... time to relax, and play host to the crew of the Esperanza - and show them around Dublin.
On Monday, we had a morning press conference in the heli-hanger, to highlight our campaign, and to exhibit the destruction caused by bottom trawling. Dozens of dead fish were laid out on deck for the media, gleaned from the bycatch scupper of the Playa de Menduiña. Star of the show was our big red crab, photographs of which appeared in the newspapers, held by Maya, our new press officer. After lunch, Dave R, Odin and I took to the streets in my little red car, on the hunt for tools and spare parts, armed with the Yellow Pages and my mental street map of Dublin.
Back at the ship, other crew members were busy organising recycling, food deliveries, more new equipment and supplies and getting new crew settled on board. When they had a chance, they were taking it easy, and wandering around Dublin a bit.
It was a hectic few days - for me anyway. By Tuesday evening, as we sailed out through the East Link Bridge, I was nearly glad to be going back to the high seas for a rest...
- Dave
