What a hectic Sunday! After the ceremonies at dawn and at the site of the old Warrior, the day had already seemed long. But by 11am, I was in my bare feet, helping pull the Waka Nui ashore in beautiful Matauri Bay, the masts of the Rainbow Warrior just visible near the Cavalli Islands - then a party of us headed by back to Auckland, where we had a reception at the St. James Hall, on Queens St.

Led by Steve Abel of Greenpeace NZ, the other speaker talked about nonviolence, the importance of keeping up the fight against both nuclear power and weapons, and the legacy of the first Rainbow Warrior. Marelle Pereira (daughter of Fernando) Steve Sawyer, Abacca Anjan-Maddison, Bunny McDiarmid, Cindy Baxter - all came forward and drew, for me, a convincing picture of the importance of keeping nukes out of the Pacific!

Then the concert - a whole bunch of New Zealand's finest took the stage in the ornate theatre surroundings, including John Butler, The D4, Che Fu, Don McGlashan and John Segovia, Opshop and Wellington band Rhombus, all MC'd by Steve Abel and Jackie Brown - the country knows a thing or two about rock and roll!

The music stopped, briefly, for a minutes silence, at 11:47 - the time the first bomb went off on the Rainbow Warrior. It was also a moments silence for the victims of the London bombings - and of bombings everywhere.

But, as Don McGlashan said - tonight was both a commemoration and celebration - so the music went on till after 2am. Most of us have no idea how we lasted so well during the day, other than we felt buoyed up by being part of something remarkable.

It's a quiet day in the New Zealand office today - the last few days have been pretty busy, so people are taking a rest.

- Dave

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke. © Greenpeace/Walsh

Don McGlashan. © Greenpeace/Walsh

Singing 'Anchor Me'. © Greenpeace/Walsh

Steriogram. © Greenpeace/Walsh

Steriogram. © Greenpeace/Walsh

John Butler Trio. © Greenpeace/Walsh

John Butler Trio. © Greenpeace/Walsh

John Butler Trio. © Greenpeace/Walsh

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When I think of the spirit of Greenpeace, I usually think of the strong women who have inspired this organisation. (I think the diminshed testosterone makes the "Warrior" bit less suspect). Bunny McDiarmid, Monika Griefahn, Cornelia Durrant, Elaine Lawrence, Kelly Rigg, Kay Treakle. Grace. Grace is always a reminder of the spirit that keeps us going. She´s so totally fuelled by it.

The 500 were being briefed on how they were going to make this human message. Everybody was to get a T-shirt, a solid print of one of the rainbow´s colours. Wear a jacket over it. And at the pre-arranged signal everybody was to take off their jacket, find their mark, and position themselves to make a perfect peace symbol that would be visible form a terrace high above the Esplanade Trocadéro.

More easily said then done.

The practice session involved an awful lot of false starts and barely controlled chaos. Fortunately, some very cool cookies wrenched the chaos into enough order that there was a sort of a semblance of a wishful hope that it maybe might with a lot of luck kind of possibly work out ok.

Now for anyone who has been involved in Greenpeace events, they´ll recognise the "oh my GOD what are we doing?" moment that always -- and I mean ALWAYS -- hits before the big day. Some karmic force ensures that a piece of equipment is missing or a presumption turns out to be wrong or somebody key gets sick and the whole enterprise appears ready to go very, very pear-shaped. You feel stupid. You start to think the action-killing thoughts. It won´t work. We´ll look like idiots. We´ll all get hurt.

But seasoned activists know it´s part of the package. Like the theatre mantra, `It´ll be allright on the night´ it always is.

As, in fact, it was.

Mike Townsley, our coordinator, just called live from the terrace to say the Peace symbol got put together in less than 30 seconds. He´s never seen anyone with so little practice pull off anything so complicated off so quickly. Here´s an audio grab of his phone call live from the scene.

And when you´ve listened to that, have a listen to this: Grace O´Sullivan´s speech the night before the commemoration about what it takes to fight for peace.

(Searched "Greenpeace" in the podcast directory of your iTunes 4.9 yet? We're podcasting this and other stuff)

On the bus over from Amsterdam, I´d spent some time recording a podcast with a group of American students who are Clean Energy activists on US campuses. They were great. Smart, inspiring, clued-up kids, keeping the time-honored tradition of student activism alive. They´ve convinced a number of schools to convert, and they´ve got plans to go after the rest. They´ve also been active in trying to force Kimberly-Clark (of Kleenex fame) to stop destroying the thousands of years of evolved biodiversity which is an Ancient Forest, to make throw-away tissues. ("It takes 90 years to grow a box of Kleenex" says Britney, and Josh raps out a stirring reminder that consumers have more power than elected officials, and that every purchase of a product is a vote for a product. Yowser! Signs of intelligent life emerging from the American political landscape!)

We were talking about the challenges of getting people from the point where they care to the point where they care enough to do something, and Allison from Georgia said something that reminded me of Grace, the spirit of the Rainbow Warrior, and the continuity of that spirit that I´ve seen across more than two decades of working for this organisation.

She said `It doesn´t take much to be an activist -- it just takes a whole lot of heart.´

When I hear stuff like that out of the mouths of the generation that´s going to have the toughest fight for the future, I know there´s hope. I know the same spirit that keeps Grace and the rest of us aging hippies going is alive and well.

--Brian Fitzgerald
____________________________________________________________

Here´s some snaps from the Great Human Peace Symbol And Rainbow Training Camp.

Alain Connacht, Former ship´s captain and the only man who was willing to run Greenpeace France in the aftermath of the bombing. ©Greenpeace/Fitzgerald Grace O´Sullivan speaks. ©Greenpeace/Fitzgerald Mike Townsley: "I´ve never seen a bunch of hippies sit that still for that long." ©Greenpeace/Fitzgerald Omer oversees the practice session. ©Greenpeace/Fitzgerald The Quality Control Team. ©Greenpeace/Fitzgerald Yup. We can do this in the middle of a busy plaza with cops and cameras all around and that jittery feeling you get when you might be arrested any moment. No problemo! ©Greenpeace/Fitzgerald ©Greenpeace/Gleizes É Voila! The real thing. Grace O´Sullivan speaks truth to power. ©Greenpeace/Holden ©Greenpeace/Gleizes

We had a very early start this morning - and I mean early. We were tumbled out of our bunks 5am, to prepare for the day ahead. Last night we had a bit of a party on board - the crews of the other yachts in our flotilla came on board, as did lots of people from around Whangaroa. With all the talk and music and food on deck, many of us had seen the wrong side of midnight.

Once on board, the Maori elders made speeches of welcome - in both Maori and English, each speaker backed up by a chorus of singers, responding with beautiful, lilting songs. Then our speakers did the same - Duncan Gordon, from the Greenpeace International board, Maori elder Patu Hohepa, and Pete Willcox, our skipper, and Xavier Renou, the anti-nuclear campaign from Greenpeace France. And each time, they too were followed by us - we had learned two Maori songs, and were led by Hans (radio operator) on the guitar. We were a little apprehensive about performing the songs - but our hearty renditions elicited squeals of delight from some of the female Maori elders, as they joined in. We must have been doing something right!

As the ceremony reached its conclusion, we filed passed the elders, rubbing noses with the men, and receiving hugs and kisses from the men. All around the ship was a thick fog, with the dim light of dawn barely penetrating.

At 7am we cast off - with nearly 100 people on board, and flanked by the various yachts and smaller boats. The fog was so thick that we were forced to sound the foghorn - and I joined Abri on the 'monkey island' above the bridge, where he was posted as a lookout. I was just lamenting the lack of scenery - as I mentioned in yesterday's postings, the entrance to Whangaroa harbour is spectacular - when suddenly, the sun broke through the fog, and steep cliff faces appeared either side of us.

Suddenly we were out into the open sea, with the bright morning sun beating down on the Rainbow Warrior. Looking back, a thick membrane of cloud enveloped the landscape - ahead lay calm seas, and Matauri Bay, where the first Rainbow Warrior lies.

Ahead and astern of us we could see the sails of our flotilla, and the fast little boat belonging to Malcolm Pullman - photographer on our recent bottom trawling trip. When we arrived in Matauri Bay, Hank called up from the Tiama joking about how they had kindly 'waited' for us, and there was lots of hoots and shouts from one vessel to another.

While we prepared to drop anchor, the Greenpeace New Zealand inflatable Waka Nui with the dive team on board, pulling up the marker buoy for the Warrior's wreck, right beside the Cavalli Islands. We dropped anchor, and the Tiama and Ranui came alongside us, with other yachts making up a beautiful collection of boats.

Pete appeared in his wetsuit, ready to dive on the wreck, while a Maori clergyman blessed the marble sculpture of a dove with an olive branch, made by artist Louise Purvis. Marelle Pereira then gave a moving - actually more than moving - a heartrending speech in remembrance of her father, Fernando, and about the big extended family that is Greenpeace, and the work that we do. As we stood by her, I spotted some movement off towards it was land - it was a flotilla of sea kayaks, coming to join us.

As they arrived, we used one the booms to crane off the sculpture into the water, where the dive team of local Maori Dover Samuels (who lives within view of where we were!), Pete Willcox, and Phil from the Greenpeace New Zealand attached a flotation device to it, before lowering it down the wreck. They vanished below the surface, which was strewn with flowers scattered by the passengers on the Rainbow Warrior.

While the divers were down below, visiting the old Warrior, some if its crew stood on the main deck of the current incarnation, and talked to us all. Steve Sawyer, Martini Gotje and Susi Newborn took the microphone, and told us of their memories. One thing in particular stuck with me - Steve said that as he and the earlier 'warriors' grew older, it was heartening to see the younger generations taking up the mantle. Martini talked about the ongoing struggle in French Polynesia, and Susi told her story of walking onto the first Rainbow Warrior for the first time in London - when it was a derelict trawler in need of rescue. Abacca Anjan-Maddison, Rongelap senator, also spoke - of the plight of her people, and the solidarity of Pacific peoples, while Xavier Renou spoke of the personal conflict of having to represent his country as a Frenchman - but also how so many of his people abhorred the acts of the French government in bombing the Rainbow Warrior, as well as destroying so many lives in Polynesia.

By 11am, some of us were in the Waka Nui, making for the shoreline of Matauri Bay. They day seemed lifetimes long... and it was only 11am.

The adventure continues - stay tuned.

- Dave

The Rainbow Warrior in Matauri Bay.

Before dawn - The Powhiri.

Patu and Pete, with the wheel and binnacle from the first warrior in the foreground.

Blessing the sculpture...

This breakfast time this morning, the sun was up, and the Rainbow Warrior was off Cape Brett, making for Matauri Bay, the last resting place of the first warrior. I think it was reaching that inspired Martini to sit down at my laptop, and write his story. Patu grasped Marelle's hand, and sang a song to her, for her father.

By 1pm we had entered the harbour of Whangaroa, the landscape of which is nothing short of prehistoric - full of incredible volcanic looking pinnacles of rock, surrounded by lush vegetation. I was getting up on the 'monkey island' - on top of the bridge, when Dean shouted to me that he'd seen a penguin!

At 2pm we came alongside the small wharf, our huge old ship dwarfing the sailing boats and launches. All afternoon we've had an afternoon of welcomes and reunions and hugs and boxes of food. Ant has just rushed in, telling me that dinner is ready. I must go...

- Dave

Hello planet earth, Xavier speaking, live from the new Rainbow Warrior. It's the most famous boat of the Greenpeace fleet, back on sea, stronger than ever, and faithful to its commitment to keep on struggling for a better and greener world. We're here somewhere north of New Zealand, to commemorate the bombing of the old Rainbow Warrior.

I remember the scandal that broke out in France thanks to the investigations of a bunch of daring journalists who managed to uncover the whole story, exposing the agents who had perpetrated the crime, and the public authorities, including at least the Minister of Defence, who had ordered it. I was still a youngster at that time, and was learning my first political lesson: political elites, even elected, or pretending to be progressive, can go as far as bombing a boat, and killing one of its crew to protect the interests of the few against those of the majority. That day, I learnt that state terrorism could also come from your own government, even in a democratic society. That was a highly disturbing lesson to learn, the type of lesson that shapes your political representations for the rest of your life, and forces you to choose sides.

Well, I was saying you get forced to choose sides: as a matter of fact, after such a lesson, you're left with very few options. You can decide to go on as if nothing had happened, as if it was not your business. But then it's going to be hard to live with this sense of guilt, cowardice and moral crisis you're likely to experience. Or you choose to join those who had run the risk to lose life to protect the planet, and who had encountered such a brutal reaction.

I chose to join, and here I am, 20 years after the bombing, taking part in a celebration as a French campaigner for nuclear disarmament, sharing its mixed feelings of shame and pride with you. Indeed, what brought the old Rainbow Warrior to the seas of French Polynesia remains very alive today. The battle for stopping atmospheric and underground testing was won. But the nuclear arm race is getting a new momentum since the end of the Cold War. Yet it is not the rivalry between two giants that is feeding it nowadays, but the cold appetite for regional power and financial gain.

The situation is frightening: the three Western nuclear powers, the US, the UK and France, keep on improving their nuclear weapons, and are conducting research to find out how to create nuclear weapons to be used as ordinary weapons, on the battle field, not as mere deterrent but as offensive arms: mini nukes they call it. In doing so, of course, these three countries are sending a scary message to non nuclear nations, something that says "you could very well be on our list of targets sooner or later". A message quickly translated into "we'd better develop our own nuclear capacity if we don't want to be bombed". Hence the arms race for the bomb. And guess what, the first country to point the finger at "rogue states" willing to get the bomb is the very same country ready to sell them the expertise, the technologies and the Uranium of Plutonium to manufacture the bomb.

Look at France: it is currently developing a nuclear cooperation with states like Iran or Libya, among others, pretending to sell them only "pacific" nuclear technologies. But all the technologies are both military and pacific, and they know it for sure! This is the kind of hypocrisy that enables the nuclear proliferation to carry on unnoticed, while few countries are making profits in spreading these deadly toys. Who's going to stop them? We need more Rainbow Warriors, and more people of Fernando Pereira's type, ready to expose the dangers of the world to convince public opinions to oppose them!

Bye for now, I may have talked too long, and the night is coming onto the lower mountains of the northern coast of New Zealand. Tonight is not for sad thoughts!

Cheers,

Xavier - Greenpeace Anti-Nuclear Campaigner, from France.

A sunny lunchtime - just passing Cape Brett at the southern end of the Bay of Islands. We’re all gathered in the wheelhouse of Henk Haazen's expedition yacht Tiama for lunch, after a rather snotty night coming up from Auckland. When Ruby and I came up on watch at 0400 this morning, John summed things up as 'extremely unpleasant', which was extremely accurate - screeching rain squalls, low visibility, and spray washing over the cabin top into the cockpit, inevitably ending up down the back of the neck.

I haven't been up here for almost ten years... when we did a sail-by and a brief ceremony on our way to Moruroa just after the newly elected French President Jacques Chirac had announced a resumption of nuclear testing at the 'Centre du Experimentacion Pacifique' in the Tuamotus in French Polynesia... and before that it was in 1987 when we came to lay the old ship at her final resting place. Odd that Chirac is now the strongest advocate of action on climate change at this weeks's G8 summit in Scotland. They say that politics makes strange bedfellows, and although we're not on intimate terms, you have to give him credit for standing up to Bush - first on the war in Iraq, and now on the climate issue...

It's great to be back in nuclear-free New Zealand, seeing old friends, some of whom haven't met up for 10 or 20 years... we're all 10 or 20 years older however, and seeing familiar old faces reminds one of how much the world has changed in that time...but on the other hand how much has changed. While the threat of a nuclear Armageddon from a strategic exchange between the superpowers is much less of a threat than it was then, we live in a world that is equally dangerous in other ways... unbridled unilateralist warmongering from the remaining superpower, the proliferation of nuclear technologies to an ever wider group of states, and a continuing cycle of violence in the name of religious fundamentalism and political ideology, whose latest victims in London we mourn, along with those in Iraq, Afghanistan, Abu Graib and Guantanamo Bay.

The internet connection via my mobile phone from Tiama is intermittent and slow, so I haven’t been able to keep up with my day job, working for Greenpeace on climate change, but we did hear that the G8 summit did in fact end up sending the clear signal that the Bush administration is out of touch with the rest of the world - so what else is new?

All for now,

Steve Sawyer - the Rainbow Warrior's anti-nuclear campaigner in 1985, and now head of Greenpace International's science and political unit on climate change.

Tomorrow it is 20 years since the Rainbow Warrior and Fernando got killed by an act of (French) state-sponsored terrorism.

We just sailed past Matauri Bay, where the Warrior was laid to rest. All kinds of thought are racing through my mind.

To 1973 when I first went to Moruroa and met Francis Sanford, the Tahitian delegate to the French parliament and a tireless fighter to stop the tests.

To Oscar Temaru, who worked with Greenpeace many years to stop the tests and is now President of (French) Polynesia. He gives a glimmer of hope that the truth of the health effects on Tahitians, who were exposed to the radiation and had to do the cleanup on Moruroa whenever there was an accident, will finally come out.

To Rongelap and John and Jeton Anjain, whose atoll was devastated by thermo nuclear tests and left a long legacy of wasted lives

To Fernando, who went down with the Warrior, and his children who have to live without their father.

To Bob Hunter, who started it all back in Amchitka, the US nuclear test site.

To David McTaggart, who held it all together and brought Moruroa in the spotlight to the world.

To Elaine Shaw and Betty Johnston, who never gave up.

To Barry Mitcalfe who led the Fri on her way to Moruroa.

To General Paris de la Bolladier, who had the nerve to speak against the tests as a French general.

To the old Warrior herself, which never died and continues to provide life and inspiration 20 metres under the surface of Matauri Bay.

Tomorrow we will be on the spot and honour the ship which stood for so many issues.

It is like a daughter (this Rainbow Warrior), which visits her mother (the old Warrior) to get a dose of strength and inspiration to continue and rid this world from nuclear weapons, to get justice for the thousands of people who paid the price for the Nuclear Weapon States to have the bomb.

Nuclear weapons are the ultimate weapon of terror and a crime against humanity. In today's war on terror we have to unite and get rid of them. And we will.

- Martini Gotje, from Holland, first mate on board the Rainbow Warrior in 1985.

It's Saturday morning, a clear and sunny day as we head north towards Matauri Bay. This is my first time on the Rainbow Warrior. Hey, it's my first time on a boat and I feel very privileged to be here and to be part of an incredible group that is about to commemorate one of the landmark occasions in Greenpeace's history. The bombing of the Rainbow Warrior was like a wakeup call to the world - and the world still remembers. In recent weeks, I have been telling people that I would be sailing on the second Rainbow Warrior as part of the marking of the bombing of the first one. I have not met a single person, of any age, who has not heard of what happened back in 1985. Most people are staggered that twenty years has passed since it happened . ‘Was it really twenty years ago?' they say. It seems like just yesterday. Recalling what happened also helps people renew their resolve to keep on fighting against environmental injustice - in whatever form it takes.

I certainly am glad to be here. I am looking forward to participating in the ceremonies tomorrow morning. I am proud to represent the International Board of Greenpeace during this voyage and other activities, and to be part of that chain that links Greenpeacers everywhere, on the seas, in the forests, in the offices - and even in the board meetings. We are all fighting for the same thing and we all have our part to play. But it is also good to observe those different parts, and even to share in them. I am happy to be able to do that, on board the Rainbow Warrior, and part of a group of very special people who represent Greenpeace's past, present and future.

- Ann Summers, Board Chair Greenpeace International

Pete, you were skipper of the Rainbow Warrior when it was attacked in Auckland harbour in 1985. You must have mixed feelings about coming back here to commemorate the it, twenty years later?

Hey, any excuse for a party dude!...Twenty years ago was not a happy time for us. I am enjoying seeing a number of old shipmates who I have not seen in years.

New Zealand seems as strong as ever in its no nukes policy. That was one of the things that made it special to be here 20 years ago. Obviously, we need countries like New Zealand more and more today than ever.

In your opinion, what makes a 'Rainbow Warrior' - in terms of individual
activists?

Anybody who DOES anything. Whether its recycle, write their legislator, get involved with a group. There are so many people who are making commitments to live on the earth as if they want to continue doing it for generations. In 2000 we did a Toxics Free Asia tour. We saw people in India, Thialand, Philipines, Hong Kong and Japan who were aware that we need to change the way we are living on the planet. It was a real rush to see that so many people on the planet were aware, and trying to do something to change things. A Rainbow Warrior is a doer.

Pete Willcox - Skipper of the Rainbow Warrior, from the USA

As someone who campaigned against nuclear testing in the past, what does it feel like to be now a crew member of the Rainbow Warrior, 20 years later?

The success of Greenpeace as a major international organization is an accepted fact now, but for me the biggest contrast compares not 20, but 30 years ago, when I was first involved with Greenpeace, sailing to Mururoa Atoll. Back then, all peace and environment organizations were fringe shoestring organizations, and there was no reason to believe that Greenpeace's future would be any different.

Those present at the conference were all from GP offices who had grown independently of each other, with powerful independent histories, but under McTaggart's cajoling finally sat down together to co-operate. It was a fantastic gathering of people. I do clearly remember the awe with which (Patrick Moore I think) announced that the budget internationally was over $1 million US, and that for the first time we could envision major campaigns like the Antarctic Campaign.

By 1985, 20 years ago, the momentum for modern Greenpeace was well underway, although the boats were still operated on very modest budgets. When Martin Gotje, now 1st Mate on Rainbow Warrior, contacted me from Jacksonville Florida to be crew for what became the Warrior's last campaign to the Pacific, I turned it down because (after seven years of Greenpeace related work) I still felt burnt out from the work load I knew can be involved, on little or no pay, even though it can be tremendously satisfying (the crew were themselves converting the vessel to sail, a project I normally welcome, and the last campaign to evacuate the people of Rongelap was the Warrior's last and most moving). I was focused on gaining my commercial sea-going qualifications.

Now the vessels are operated on a vastly larger budget, with pay and leave conditions for core crew similar to the merchant navy. When we join the vessels we don't always know what the campaign is going to be, as crew don't have input into the planning, and it may be any of the seven major world-wide Greenpeace campaigns.

Greenpeace demonstrates its ongoing relevance by identifying the changing main global issues, which is now Climate change, but Oceans and Nuclear campaigns remain central ones for me personally. The nuclear issue has changed. We no longer need to try to stop bomb tests, but the legacy of nuclear testing, and the nuclear industry is even more of a reality now than 30 years ago. Information is finally coming out of French Polynesia of what we always maintained, that the health of the workers and populations surrounding the test sites is seriously compromised by cancers and early deaths. Greenpeace has been able to visit nuclear sites in the old Soviet Union, and has long standing campaigns against nuclear power stations in the UK and the rest of Europe. Micronesia still leads the world in showing how devastatingly long term the effects of radiation contamination can be.

In the Oceans campaigns, the biggest difference is the broadening of issues from whales and seals to all ocean life and habitat, and in this the Greenpeace fleet plays as direct and effective role as it ever did, which is very satisfying to me personally.

What do you think of the stance of nuclear-free countries - like NZ, 20 years
on?
New Zealand's non-nuclear stance came at some cost to the country. The U.S. still hasn't forgiven New Zealand, we lost our military co-operation with U.S. (which some of us think is an advantage), and we are still trying to persuade the U.S. that we are a friendly enough country to be given trade concessions, (though it is the U.S. farming lobby which firmly shuts New Zealand out of an open U.S. market). It says a tremendous amount for the support for non-nuclear policy in NZ that both conservative and labour governments have maintained it until now (a question mark hangs over its future). I believe that NZ's non-nuclear policy contributed to the movement for nuclear non-proliferation by the great powers, and believe that maintaining New Zealand's policy is as important as ever.

In your opinion, what makes a 'Rainbow Warrior'?
Anyone can be a 'Rainbow Warrior'. I see them everywhere; anyone who tries to be careful with the resources they use in daily life, even in small ways, not succumbing to throw away consumption, using public transport, recycling waste. Greenpeace ships use a lot of resources and are not always a good advertisement for our beliefs, but life always has contradictions, and Greenpeace did not have the funds to build new ships with completely alternative technologies. What we can do on the ships as high profile 'Rainbow Warriors' is to keep highlighting problems, where there are few other witnesses to see.

- Naomi, 2nd Mate on the Rainbow Warrior, from New Zealand

So what's it like to be on board the Rainbow Warrior?
It is an absolutely amazing feeling to be crew on a ship that has a history like the Rainbow Warrior. Even though I wasn't yet born when the first Warrior was bombed, I can feel the reverberations of the attack through the people on board who was there when it happened and in the Rainbow Warrior itself.

What do you think of the stance of nuclear-free countries - like New Zealand, 20 years on?
I believe that the nuclear-free countries have made the right decision for the future of the environment. Hopefully twenty years from now many more countries will have followed their example.

What do you think makes a 'Rainbow Warrior'?
I think there are three things:

It is something the symbolizes the struggle to save our fragile world.

The people who run it, whether they be the people who drive the boat, the people who cook the food, or the people who work on shore to support the ship. Without the people, the ship is just a lot of floating steel.

The name! "Rainbow Warrior" just fits so perfectly with the whole philosophy of the ship. It grabs your attention and it doesn't let go, and eventually it just becomes part of you.

Abri, Assistant Radio Operator, from South Africa

Marelle Pereira with the Rainbow Warrior's accompanying flotilla, Auckland Harbour. © Greenpeace/Walsh

The Rainbow Warrior pulls away from Prince's Wharf, Auckland, accompanied by tug boats, yachts and sailing ships and cheers from the quayside. It's July 8th, two days short of twenty years since its predecessor was sunk at nearby Marsden Wharf as it prepared to sail to Moruroa in protest to French nuclear testing. Fernando Pereira, the photographer on board, died tragically in the incident.

On board are 28 people, amongst them Pete Willcox and Martini Gotje, skipper and 1st mate, respectively, of the original Warrior in 1985. Marelle Pereira - daughter of Fernando, and her partner, Matt.

The Rainbow Warrior sails out of Waitamata Harbour in Auckland © Greenpeace / Michael Amendolia

We're heading north, towards Matauri Bay in New Zealand's Far North, where the first Rainbow Warrior lies - 25m below the ocean's surface, and bejewelled with sea life. Maori elder, Patu Hohepa, is with us, guiding us towards into his tribal area.

We also have some our organisations's stalwarts - Carol Stewart, former executive director of Greenpeace NZ, and two current board members of Greenpeace International, Anne Summers and Gordon Duncan. Gil Hanley, a photographer with years of experience in photographing the anti-nuclear campaigns is with us - hopeful we'll get to show you some of her photos!

I'll introduce more of the ship's crew over the next day or two - some faces you'll recognise from the recent bottom trawling campaign - while others are new additions.

With our sails out, we leave Auckland behind, passing out through Waitemata Harbour and past the dormant volcano of Rangitoto Island, we are accompanied by two tugs from the Ports of Auckland, and several sailing ships, including and a beautiful brigantine from Auckland's Maritime Museum, the Breeze. After the bombing in 1985, Ralph Sewell's Breeze led the ensuing peace and anti-nuclear flotilla to Moruroa. Also with us is the Tiama, owned by two other Rainbow Warrior crew members from 1985 - Bunny McDiarmid and Henk Haazen. On board is Steve Sawyer, the Rainbow Warrior's anti-nuclear campaigner in 1985, and currently head of Greenpace International's science and political unit on climate change.

A glance out the porthole - there's silver sunshine beating down on a flat calm sea, from a tangle of clouds. The weather in Auckland has been rather wet and windy in recent days, so this new weather is some solace to our guests.

- Dave

On this page you can read people's memories of the Warrior and also post your own ...