18 February 2006
Cape Town Ocean Defenders visit
by Andrew, onboard the Esperanza
©Greenpeace/Sutton-Hibbert
What's this one do?
We havent been able to hold open boat days here in Cape Town due to port security regulations. Instead, we sent an email to local cyberactivists and Ocean Defenders - arranging for two groups of about 20 to visit the Esperanza this afternoon. Mike, the chief mate, led the ship tour since he knows all about the nautical stuff, and I stuck to talking about commercial whaling and our work in the Southern Ocean.
The second best part was when we reached the Engine Control Room (ECR) - a place full of lights, buttons and switches, which very likely control the engines - but I am only guessing as the ECR is one of those mysterious engineering rooms where I am always careful not to touch anything. So I was shocked when Mike invited our guests press some of the many buttons. Fortunately, these specific buttons turned out to be labelled, "lamp test". They make all the indicator lights go on so you can check for burnt out bulbs. A very cool disco type effect was obtained.
The very best part of the tour was the melk tart and chocolate that two of our guests brought for the crew. Melk (milk) tart is a sort of a pie that is a local favourite in South Africa. Mighty tasty. And, of course, everyone knows that Greenpeace ships, or at least their crew, run on chocolate. So big thanks for that.
Confectionary aside, it was good fun meeting local cyberactivists and Ocean Defenders in the flesh, especially since they had so many questions. I think I spent nearly an hour with one group in the mess after I showed them a crew video and some photos from our time down south. It was great how engaged everyone was - even coming up with ideas about how we could foil the whalers and get people more involved. Fantastic.
It was a welcome contrast to the deadlocks and endless talk that I've been reading about in the political meetings updates. On our ship today were regular people more ready to take action than the world's leaders. People already making efforts to shop responsibly, lobby governments and pressure companies.
Big thanks to everyone that came down to the ship. It was great having you on board. If we manage to set something like this up again, we'll make sure that registered cyberactivists and Ocean Defenders hear about it first.
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Comments
This was a great day for me today - to meet and make friends with so many local members and Ocean Defenders. I felt honored to show my fellow South Africans around the ship.
Mike Mate
Posted by: mikemate at February 19, 2006 7:16 PM
It was ABSOLUTELY AWESOME to be on board the Esperanza on Saturday.
xxx
Posted by: liza at February 20, 2006 3:24 PM
Hi Andrew, ...guys & girls, ...and I do wish I could have made the trip to meet you all there. So when are you sailing up the Mystic River in Connecticut?
Anyway, ...and not to do with any of this, ...and considering it's obvious you're all avid Jackson Browne fans, there's a couple of newly released videos. They are a present to you today, ...as they are likely the best I've ever seen in my 65 years of life. They're on Jackson's homepage, and I have promised Andrew Thomas, ...the creator of these incredible videos I would offer them to you on the ships there. You can access them several ways, ...through Andrews website - http://www.hyperfire.com. Or as I've created a special graphic for them, ...and joined the two embedded videos, ...you may wish to view them on my site (Video of the Month)- http://www.gratefulchild.org/projects/gcweb/gc/html/video/ ...I've links to both Jackson Browne, and to Andrew there, ...so if you like, ...you might drop him a note, ...just to let him know what a fantastic and awesome dude you think he is. Really though, ...it wouldn't hurt to keep this guy inspired. I'm sure he would be so flattered to receive a note from someone from Greenpeace on the ships. Just look at the videos my friends, ...Much Love to you all, ...Wes
Posted by: Grateful Child at February 20, 2006 4:22 PM
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