Visitors!

Yesterday the coast guard had told us we had time till nine before we had to leave. Wrong. Around six in the morning they gave us a call that we had to leave at 7.15. So we did. But we weren't in a hurry, so we put the sails on and started to move slowly.

Soon we got a call from these guys again. They wanted to visit us. So slowly a coast guard patrol boat came aside. They launched an inflatable and with six people armed with helmets and guns they tried to reach us. The waves were pretty high and their motor wasn't that strong, so it took them a while before they reached us.

One of their officers came up to the bridge and talked to us, mainly to the captain. He told us he had been asked by his superiors to collect the footage we took the day we looked for the UK vessel Genova Bridge. We asked why he needed this material. He informed us that in India it is not allowed to take photographs of areas like ports without permission of the relevant authorities and that his superiors had asked him to collect this from us. He assured us that we would be able to get these back from the head office in Bombay and gave us a receipt. He also told us that our jobs are similar and that it is in the coast guard charter to protect the marine environment.

When they left we gave them a deck of playing cards with the top 50 ships likely for beaching and information about Greenpeace and our campaigns in India. At first they were not sure about accepting these cards. But then Moritz told them it could help them actually with their work, because all the suspect ships for breaking are in this deck. So maybe the coast guards are playing with these cards right now! Hopefully it will give them an insight in the huge problem in the shipbreaking industry. Not shipbreaking itself, but old ships still containing hazardous materials before going for scrap.

At nine this evening we anchored surrounded by fishing boats. You can see lights all around us. And above all, the sky is full with bright starts. You can easily see star signs such as Orion and Gemini. Now it's time for some peace and quiet. I'll go sit on the stern and have a look at the stars!