We will be back

This morning we paid another visit to the immigration police, but they were still unwilling to change the order. So we still can not disembark. So with sadness in our hearts we have decided to sail to Colombo, Sri Lanka. We could wait until this is sorted out (as it probably will be) but this may take a few more weeks and the Rainbow Warrior needs to be in Singapore in the beginning of January. We and the campaign team from India are clear that our leaving doesn't mean we will stop working on our campaign. To clarify this we put a banner on our stern saying: "We will be back".

Before we left we held a press conference on board. The purpose of this was to clarify our position on the shipbreaking campaign and also to explain why we were leaving. We are committed to continue our work on this campaign. We have an excellent team in India, so the story will continue. Despite all the paperwork and the waiting our campaign has been quite successful. The fact that the authorities have reacted so strongly shows that the campaign work we have been doing had an impact. There was a huge amount of media, most centered on the campaign rather than our paperwork situation and the debate about shipbreaking has entered the national media for the first time in a long while. We have interacted with many ministries and political players on this issue and will hopefully continue this in the following months.

After the press conference we had to say good- bye to the Indian team. We have had some intense weeks together so it is sad to say farewell. It was great working with such an international team. We had a final meeting in the mess room with everyone. Unfortunately the new crew waiting to get on board couldn't embark, so they will have to fly to Sri Lanka and meet us there next week. Around four o'clock we were ready for departure. A final good-bye and there off we went. On our way to Sri Lanka. Thanks everybody! We will keep up the good work! See you next year? We will be back!