It's a wrap and it's not a seafood one...

Goodbye from the crew

So the tour is coming to an end, though as I have mentioned previously, it is only the beginning of our campaign to save the oceans. We have achieved a great deal and there is a great deal more to do. The work at sea continues with the "Beluga II" defending the Greenpeace marine reserves in the Baltic Sea . For last minute goodies, I've created a couple of screensavers and even more wallpapers using the fabulous images taken during this tour.

For someone who has never spent more than a day on a ship, I now understand why people are so drawn to live and work on the sea and why we need to protect it. Witnessing the massive amounts of life destroyed by a few hours of bottom trawling was one of the most memorable and sad experiences of the tour - safe to say I will never eat trawled plaice again. The images of this bycatch so carefully laid out in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, exposing this issue to the public was one of the most gratifying moments.

The sea really does have a life of its own. With such massive forces of nature, I can see why there is so much superstition in the world of sailing - though I would like to think that we proved that having women on ships is far from bad luck. At least half the crew on the Esperanza are female and many would say that the men on board were actually quite lucky!

Living on the Esperanza has been an unpredictable and unique experience and I feel exceptionally lucky to have been given the opportunity. Many of my fellow crew members like Martha - deckhand and activist from Spain - are volunteers. Others, like German campaigner Thilo, have left their small children and loved ones for weeks/months at a time. These fantastic people come from around the world with such different lives, skills and experiences, joining together for the same purpose - to make a difference. As the lovely Dutch activist/engineer Ramon said "together we are stronger".

The Esperanza will soon be heading out to the North Atlantic for the Sea Mounts tour, continuing the Greenpeace oceans campaign. Many of the crew have been onboard for three months and will be heading home for a well deserved break while new crew join and the journey goes on. It's been a privilege to have been onboard and a pleasure to convey our story to the world - I hope the world has enjoyed the trip! A big thank you to those who have followed the story and supported our call for marine reserves - keep visiting the www.defendingoceans.com website to keep up to date with the latest developments.

- Elaine

Posted by

Your work is unmeasurable. Well done. I have been campaigning in the high street in my local town and the response from the public is amazing. Lets hope the Government take action ASAP.

Peace out

Posted by: wendy richardson at September 27, 2004 06:29 PM

I've followed the tour avidly via this site and want to say well done for great writing, photographs and maps. I have been entertained AND informed - quite a rare thing nowadays ! Good luck for the next tour.
au revoir, auf wiedersehen, arrivederci, adiós ... and thank you !

Posted by: Ray T at September 27, 2004 11:29 PM

nice website!

Posted by: stephen c at October 11, 2004 08:34 AM